


Where is my Cardinal?

by mrs_copia



Category: Ghost (Swedish Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Backstory, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional Roller Coaster, F/M, Fluff, Headcanon, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Minor Character Death, Multi, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, NSFW, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, RST, Schmoop, Self-Insert, Smut, Songfic, To Be Continued, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Work In Progress, ghost (swedish band) - Freeform, mild emotional/psychological abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-06-14 22:07:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 46,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15398553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_copia/pseuds/mrs_copia
Summary: Cardinal Copia is married to a long-time fan of Ghost. This story fills in what his life has been like since meeting her up until A Pale Tour Named Death. I may expand beyond that depending on how the story goes by the time the tour is over in real life. This story is majorly fluff, but the occasional smut roller coasters as the chapters go on.





	1. Where's my Cardinal?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic for Ghost and the first fic I've ever posted online (be gentle). The characters are out-of-character, meaning their behavior doesn't match real life. I've made subtle changes to characters' appearances, too. Mostly fluff/WAFF, but some smut that increases and decreases as the story progresses. Tags will be updated with each chapter to let you know what you're getting in to. Some tags might be for future chapters and don't apply to what is posted right this minute; still a n00b to posting fics.
> 
> There will most likely be a lot of varying plot lines eventually. It loosely follows the real life lore behind Ghost that they release officially from time to time. It is a very, very long chaptered fic with many more chapters to come.
> 
> The story isn't completely concrete and suggestions in comments can influence future chapters if I can find a way to incorporate it without disrupting anything that is concrete.
> 
>  
> 
> TW: dubious consent in one scene so far, but nothing extreme.  
>  also some emotional manipulation bordering on abuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction

“Where’s my Cardinal?” she asked her empty house. It was past seven o’clock and he was rarely, if ever, this late coming home. It was All Hallow’s Eve so the streets were filled with children in costume. Perhaps this was holding him up. She decided to venture down the block to his place of work and find him.

Alexis entered the remodeled Victorian mansion and assumed why her Cardinal must have been late. The place was swarming with people of all ages in their spookiest costumes. Witches, devils, random outfits of gore, mummies, zombies. They were not the scariest looking figures in the building. This mansion was set up to be an interactive museum dedicated to show the world what pain and death was like throughout the ages. There were rooms for medieval torture, rooms for the Black Death, rooms for crucifixion and executions, and so on. The guests would normally not set foot in a place so gruesome as Cardinal Copia’s Museum of Mortality, but it was the spirit of Halloween that brought them all to their morbid curiosities. They ran their hands over as many relics as they could find. Some were giggling, some appalled. The children were enraptured and insisted to their parents that no, it wasn’t too scary for them.

Each area of this Victorian mansion was built from the finest types of wood at the time. Some rooms were stained oak, others mahogany. The frames of these rooms had ornate carvings in them; however, this mansion was unique. Instead of generic patterns, the wood was carved in to frightening demons or lustful scenes. In some cases, both styles were featured. Many rooms had wallpaper that initially looked floral or like there were fleur-de-lis patterns. Upon closer inspection these designs were clever Satanic symbols and sigils blended in to dark color schemas. 

The decor of the home itself emitted evil, but the objects in them were far more sinister. There were detailed mannequins with grotesque faces twisted in pain, covered in black boils, or peaceful in death. The torture devices were wrought iron and wooden replicas stained with realistic theatrical blood. The more dangerous devices were encased in glass to avoid any clientele injury.

Tour guides dressed in black suits with shiny silver masks shaped like faceless ghouls. A few of them guided some groups gently around each room while others oversaw the operations of the animatronic displays. Customers were also able to roam freely with no guide if they chose to. The faceless tour guides were referred to as Nameless Ghouls/Ghoulettes. Their masks had horns poking out near the front of their identical wavy hair styles; masculine slicked back hair for the Ghouls and feminine wavy hair for the Ghoulettes. The gracious host-slash-owner was nowhere to be found in the public areas.

Alexis was able to wade through the crowd without notice. Generally, her appearance called for a double take. She wasn’t particularly over the top attractive, but she made an effort throughout her life to achieve confidence. The way she carried herself and the way she interacted with others often caught attention. Her hair was bleached to the point of almost pure silvery white. Her makeup was heavy around her bluish grey eyes, her lip was double pierced, and her clothing was almost always dark. Ever since The Cardinal came in to her life, she dressed much less casually and added in more dresses. He was always looking dapper and she didn’t like feeling underdressed. Today she was in a form fitting black maxi dress with long sleeves. She felt witchy in it, which was perfect for Halloween and for slipping away from the visitors.

The customers didn’t know where the hidden passages for employees were like Alexis did. Her husband gladly shared the secrets of his establishment with her before it was open for business. The old mansion was absolutely gigantic. There were more rooms hidden than there were made public. She first checked the secluded bedroom that she and her dear Cardinal spent many extended “lunch breaks” in. It was down an English oak staircase that had a soft bed covered in pillows and cushions. The room smelled like his musk, woody with a hint of sweet herbs. It was stronger near the bed. For a moment, Alexis sat on the bed wishing for his warmth beside her. She picked up a stray pillow from the floor and held it for a moment. She thought about the last time they were in here together and a smile spread across her face. She put the pillow back in its place on the bed and left the room. The stairs creaked under each step as she made her way back up to the dark passages.

She wandered through narrow hallways, ignoring many closed doors as she knew they were offices belonging to others, or storage closets for both the front business as well as Cardinal Copia’s furtive organization, The Clergy. Some offices had whispers creeping out from under their doors. One room that she had never been in at the end of many hallways had the door open a crack. Dim light peeked out to greet her. She heard water running quietly. Pushing the door open surprisingly made no noise, so Alexis was able to enter unnoticed. The main area was a bedroom with minimal furnishings. This must be the room for Clergy guests, Alexis thought as she glanced around. She wasn’t sure who she would find in here, but something told her it was exactly who she had come to seek out.

On the back wall was another door, the source of light and sound that greeted her in the hallway. Alexis approached the door and saw her Cardinal leaning over the sink splashing water on to his face. He was still dressed professionally, as he always was. His coattail jacket was off, hanging on the back of the door no doubt. He still wore his vest and black button up shirt. The vest was black on the front with red silk on the back half. The red half had a gilded grucifix pattern that was only visible in certain angles of the light. Alexis surprised him by wrapping her arms around his middle and leaning against him in a tight hug. He stiffened momentarily then relaxed in to her embrace. Her heart only ever felt this full when she was touching the love of her life. Her Cardinal shut off the water and stood up straight, leaning his head back a little to rest gently atop hers.

“Hello, my love,” He said, eyes closed. She kissed his shoulder in response. He didn’t bother to dry his hands before holding her arms that were wrapped around him. He didn’t want to waste a single moment. “It has been a long day. I should have called to let you know that I would be late tonight. I am sorry.”

“That’s okay,” She loosened her grip so that he could turn to face her. He did, and he looked down in to her eyes. She was tall for an American woman, but she still had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze while they were standing this close together. His right eye was a beautiful pale green. His other eye was as white as a ghost, yet he still had a visible pupil. This ghostly eye was the first thing she had noticed about him when they met. It ran in his bloodline, he had told her.

Now, as she looked in to those mismatched eyes, she was full of love and happiness that she gets to wake up next to this man every day for eternity. He was significantly older than her, but she never once considered this a deterrent. The Cardinal looked like Marlon Brando and Vincent Price merged together. He generally had black paint around his eyes and on his top lip, just under his thin mustache. His sideburns were shaped perfectly to accentuate his cheekbones and strong jaw. His hair started each day carefully combed, but sometimes by the end of a long day it would become unruly. This was one of the many things Alexis found endearing about him. She knew how animated he could get when he would talk to people and she knew exactly which mannerisms made his hair come loose from the pomade styling it.

He leaned in to kiss her, his still slightly damp hand holding her cheek gently. He wasn’t wearing his usual leather gloves. His hands were soft against her skin; his touch just as tender.

“I love you,” He whispered in to her mouth. She smiled as their lips met, pressing together for only a brief moment.

“I love you, too,” His hand still resting on her cheek, he looked in to her eyes and smiled back at her.

“How am I so lucky?” He yanked her in for a squeeze. She smiled and hugged back even tighter. He kissed her forehead as he let go. “Come, I want to show you what has kept me here so late.”

“It isn’t the horde in the museum?” He had her by the hand and was leading her out of the room down the hall. They were headed for the staircase to his office that was at the very top of the mansion.

“No, my dear, it is much more significant than that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on October 31st, 2017.


	2. The Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cardinal Copia shares some news as well as some intimacy.

They continued their walk in silence only broken by the creaks of the old floors. Alexis wondered what could be waiting in the octagonal room upstairs. She loved it up in his office. There was a comfortable bay window and his walls were lined with bookshelves. In open spaces he had portraits of each of the Papas that were all the voice of The Clergy at one point or another. The Papas spread the word of Satan through music, a band appointed by The Clergy to gain a mass following and to overturn the current Christian control over the world. The band, Ghost, was becoming a major success with each change of Papas. Papa Emeritus I introduced the band and was the mockery of the elderly images of the Catholic Pope. Papa Emeritus II accepted the transfer of roles from his predecessor, representing worshiping one deity alone; Satan. He was the first to perform unmasked, although the identities of the band remained shrouded in mystery. When Papa II no longer satisfied The Clergy, they passed his role on to his younger brother. Papa Emeritus III was unleashed, winning the band a Grammy through his more sexual image and mimicry of television Evangelicals. This accomplishment didn’t necessarily please The Clergy. It helped spread the word, but it did not accomplish much else. Recently, Papa III was dragged off of the stage by Nameless Ghouls following the orders of Papa Nihil, the head of The Clergy. The reason Alexis knew all of this is was not only through being a fan of the band herself, but because Cardinal Copia was essentially Papa Nihil’s righthand man behind the scenes. Yet Cardinal Copia was so efficient at remaining in the shadows that Papa Nihil didn’t even know who it was that was carrying out his orders.

Once they were inside of the office, The Cardinal kissed Alexis’s hand and let it go. He was forever the perfect gentleman. He walked around his desk and sat in his mahogany chair. Alexis came over and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. She kissed his cheek and he smiled, holding one arm around her back.

“You never fail to brighten my day,” He said to her. He used his free hand to open the top drawer of his desk and pull out a letter. The wax seal marked with The Clergy’s symbol, a grucifix, was already broken. He unfolded it on his desk.

“What’s this?” He gestured for her to read it. She leaned over until she could make out the perfect script that appeared to be written by Sister Imperator, Papa Nihil’s direct public assistant and the matriarch of The Clergy. The letter requested to meet with Cardinal Copia in regards to the replacement of Papa Emeritus III. Sister Imperator would be arriving soon for a short stay while they “worked out some details.” It did not specify any further. Alexis leaned back and ran her hands through The Cardinal’s already untamed hair. 

“What do you think it may be about, my love?” She asked him. He sighed and looked at her.

“I don’t know. It involved a lot of preparing guest rooms and offices today for when Sister arrives.” He seemed a little bit stressed out, but his composure rarely failed him. Meetings with Sister Imperator usually involved her shouting about the slow progress of The Clergy. The Cardinal kissed the tip of his wife’s nose. “Shall we go home and leave the apostles to close shop?”

“If you’d like,” Alexis started to get up from his lap, but he pulled her back down and kissed her. This kiss was deep and lingering. Alexis felt her skin begin to tingle all over and for a moment she forgot where they were. All that she knew in that moment was the feel of her love’s lips and the pressure behind them. When it ended, she felt dazed and fuzzy around the edges. He was watching her and smiled at how she looked with her eyes only half open and her lips parted. He gave her side a tickling squeeze and added another quick kiss.

“Alright, my dearest, then let us go,” He said and helped her to her feet. He grabbed his coat and put it on as they started walking towards the door. He slipped his gloves on and held the door open, ushering his lady out first.

She was still a little bit dazed and suddenly couldn’t wait to get home. The Cardinal may be about twenty years her senior, but you would never tell other than his slightly worn face. He was still fairly fit and had the most drool worthy thighs she had ever seen on a man. She believed that she would find him irresistible until the very end of their lives.

After giving instructions to the Ghouls and greeting various guests in the museum, The Cardinal led Alexis outside for their stroll home. He held out his arm for her to rest hers on as though they were in another era. The sun had just gone down and the autumn night was still surprisingly warm. A few stars were twinkling above the treetops. Alexis breathed in and could smell lilac bushes nearby. They walked slowly to their own Victorian mansion and admired the houses’ gardens along the way. There wasn’t much small talk as they enjoyed the sight of Halloween crowds in the neighborhood. Alexis could also smell The Cardinal’s cologne and she rested her head on his shoulder for the last few yards of their walk. Her heart swelled with contentment.

When they got inside, they momentarily discussed what they would have for dinner. But when The Cardinal took off his jacket and vest, Alexis couldn’t resist him anymore. As he started to roll up his sleeves with the careful movements that he used to do everything, she walked up to him and kissed him with intensity. She wrapped her hand in his hair on the back of his head and pulled a little bit. He was certainly caught off guard, but quickly went along with her. Their kisses became deeper and more aggressive. He unbuttoned enough of his shirt to be able to pull it over his head and toss it aside. His chest had greying brown hair that trailed down to his stomach. There it spread in to a patch surrounding his bellybutton. He wasn’t ripped per se, but he had very minimal extra cushioning. His body was perfect for every act that a couple in love could perform.

Their kisses stopped for a brief moment and they were both breathing heavily. Alexis had it easier as far as removing clothing; she could simply slip out of her dress. She unbuttoned his tight, black pants in one fluid motion and traced her finger along his skin just under the line of his pants. This always made him twitch a little bit with anticipation. Heat was radiating up to her hand from his partly opened pants. She wanted to lick and kiss every part of his upper body before moving to his pant line.

Before she could so much as touch his chest, Cardinal Copia slid his hands slowly down to Alexis’s ass and lifted her up with a grunt. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he carried her over to the couch. As he was walking, he let his hand do a little exploring while he was holding her up. He could feel the wetness through the lace panties and he let out a moan of need. He set her down on the couch and propped himself on top of her. She could feel him rock hard, pressing against her. He unsnapped her bra and pulled it off, spilling her white breasts out in to the open. He kissed her roughly and trailed his hand down in to her panties. He started rubbing her clitoris in circles and pulled back from the kiss. He loved watching her face at the first touch. Her eyes closed and she leaned her head back with a sigh. Her body reacted and she pushed her hips upwards in to his hand. He started moving his finger faster and listened to her breath quicken. Her entire body was shivering and she almost begged him to enter her. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, he slipped two fingers in to her as deeply as he could. She gasped and started to let out small moans with each exhale. As he slid his fingers in and out he kissed her neck and shoulders, awakening every nerve in her. She pulled his hair lightly again and rocked her hips to the movement of his hand. He moved down to her breasts and kissed them softly. The Cardinal flicked his tongue across her nipple and her whole body convulsed. He knew exactly how to bring her to the edge in an instant. Sensing how close she was, he pulled his fingers out of her and slipped her panties off. He took his time removing his pants so that her body could relax a little bit. He wanted this to last.

The Cardinal’s pants were too tightly fit for him to bother with underwear; rolling them down off of his hips immediately showed everything. He was neatly trimmed and richly endowed. Alexis was amazed at how delicious he looked at that moment and she wanted nothing more than to enjoy being one with him. She got off of the couch and kneeled in front of him. To quote Oscar Wilde, “Love is a sacrament that should be taken kneeling, and Domine non sum dignus should be on the lips and in the hearts of those who receive it.” Alexis thought Sathanas non sum dignus and placed her hands on the backs of the Cardinal’s thighs. She loved lightly rubbing her hands along his thighs as she sucked. She like how the hairs tickled her fingers and she had been told that it was pleasant for him, too. She took him in to her mouth and enjoyed the feeling of his pulse against her tongue. He let out a deep breath and placed his hand on the top of her head lightly. He watched her head bob in front of him as she tried to take him further and further in to her throat. She used her hands just below his faultless ass to pull him closer to her. He pushed himself in to her mouth, guiding her with his hand. Each time the tip of him was above her tongue, she would swirl her tongue across the underside of the head, hitting the sweet spot for him. Alexis tilted her head just enough so that he would be rubbing along the ribbed roof of her mouth. He started to quicken his thrusts and then he suddenly stopped and pulled himself out.

“You’ve almost finished me,” He panted. “I want to be inside of you when that happens.”

Alexis was glad to oblige and laid back down on to the couch, one arm resting above her head. Once again, he propped himself above her. Their eyes met and she felt as if nothing else existed in the entire world. Her legs were open, waiting to receive The Cardinal, her body trembling. He rubbed the tip of his cock against her and smiled at the look on her face as he did so.

“Please,” She whispered. He continued rubbing along her, feeling the wetness cover him. She put her legs around him tightly, pulling him closer to her. He laughed quietly. “Please, please.”

Cardinal Copia surprised her by ramming himself in to her all at once, hitting the end of her and making her shout in pleasure. Alexis felt like he had reached the top of her head with one shove. Every single part of her body was tingling in ecstasy. She loved when he was rough with her. He immediately set his pace at quick, hard thrusts. She used her legs to pull her hips against his movements to force him as deeply as possible in to her. His hair hung down across his forehead, already damp with sweat. She looked up in to his eyes and they gazed at each other. Alexis lost herself in that beautiful ghostly eye, as if she were being swallowed whole, enthralled. The tingling in her chest deepened and spread down her limbs. She knew she was about to climax.

“I-I...” She tried to tell The Cardinal. He nodded once to show that he knew exactly how she was feeling. His rhythm became irregular as he got closer. Then the explosion hit. Alexis’s thighs tightened against The Cardinal and she started to writhe underneath him. She could feel him cumming inside of her, each spasm of his cock felt so good that her body surprised her with a second, more intense orgasm. She felt like she had left her body. When she came back to reality, they were both out of breath and he was putting a little more of his weight on her. It was a comfortable, familiar weight. She let her legs fall back on to the couch from The Cardinal’s waist. She ran her fingers through his sweaty hair as he rested his head on her bosom.

They started to doze until The Cardinal’s weight was becoming too much for Alexis. Gently whispering his name, she kissed the top of his head and let him know that they need to get up. He made a small mmm of agreement and peeled himself off of her. His top lip no longer had the black paint on it and the patterns around his eyes were smudged. Alexis imagined her makeup must have sweated off as well. Giggling a little about his makeup, she gave him another kiss and said she was going to clean up before dinner. She headed up to their luxurious bathroom and had a quick shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter also takes place on October 31st, 2017.


	3. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the two lovers met, their bond was almost instantaneous.  
> (Pure fluff.)

Later, their bellies full of wine and supper, they finally went to their four-poster canopied bed to rest for the night. Seeing her love free of black paint and of clothes was one of her more cherished secrets. Alexis was the only one to see him this way since his youth. They shared many secrets together, but this one was fun in the sense that he was an entirely different person laid bare before her. This Copia was hers and hers alone. There was never any apprehension in her as far as giving herself completely to him. Everything was so different with him, even from the beginning.

Five years ago, Alexis was around twenty-three when she met The Cardinal. At the time he was only a priest and had not yet been promoted to Cardinal. She had stayed after a ritual to meet Papa Emeritus II, her biggest crush out of the Papas. Papa Emeritus II was just so damned dominant and sinister. His scowling skull paint always lit a fire in her loins that made her want to be his eternal submissive. The way he carried himself with such confidence implied that he would be a challenge to appease, making him that much more desirable.

As she waited outside the tour bus with the other fans, Father Copia chatted with her while guarding the door of the bus. She remembered thinking how handsome he was for someone who must be about twice her age. He was dressed in a casual clerical outfit, a tight black collar with a white grucifix emphasized the paleness of his skin. Flirting wasn’t her intent, but she was flirty by nature and often didn’t notice when she captured male attention. Right as Papa II emerged, Copia requested that Alexis stay after the crowd for a few minutes. She agreed with some hesitation. On the one hand, she wanted to rush over to the long-time subject of her affections. She was incredibly attracted to Papa II, but she waited patiently at Father Copia’s request. After all, this may be her window of opportunity to steal some time from Papa Emeritus II away from the other fans. It took a while for Papa to greet each waiting fan and have short conversations with them as he signed their merchandise. This gave Alexis time to realize she was being rather flirty with Copia and that she was enjoying his coy banter.

Father Copia waved Papa Emeritus II over after his last signature with the dispersing crowd. Even without his skull paint Papa II was incredibly intimidating, yet sexually charismatic. His head and face were cleanly shaven, leaving only a small mustache above his upper lip. His brow was naturally furrowed; menacingly provocative. The three of them chatted for what felt like minutes but ended up being over an hour. Papa II also found himself enamored of Alexis, but he insisted that he and Copia get on their way to the next state for the following night’s ritual. Alexis couldn’t let herself lose this connection with two astoundingly handsome men, so she offered her contact information. Copia and Papa each kissed her hand before climbing on to the bus. As the door was about to close, Copia stepped back out and beckoned her over.

“Yes?” She looked up in to his ghostly eye; the eye that was so similar to the Papas’ eyes. The crisp autumn air gave her goosebumps. At least, she assumed it was the cool wind. Copia stepped closer to her and held her chin up towards his face with a single finger.

“May I?” He was so courteous. Alexis nodded and felt her heart leap in to her throat. He leaned in slowly, almost nervously. She had never felt a kiss like this. It moved down her lips all the way to her toes, filling her with fire. There was no tongue in this kiss. Only slightly opened lips and a caress on her face. When they parted she could hardly breathe. They couldn’t tear their eyes from each other for a moment. He expressed his sorrow at having to part ways and promised that he would be back in Colorado to visit her before she knew it.

Although the months between their first and second meeting felt long, Alexis received regular e-mails from Father Copia. They began as simple small talk to become acquainted with one another, including the trouble he had been in with Papa II for stealing a kiss from her the night that they met. Papa was planning to contact her later, but he backed off when Copia explained the depth of his interest. Papa II was more interested in casual sex and never had trouble finding it elsewhere anyway, lascivious as he was.

Things with Copia escalated faster than expected, which is often the nature of online relationships. They started using FaceTime to have quick conversations when their separate time zones allowed. Alexis loved seeing him blush when she would hint at what she’d like to do with him if and when they met again. His smile started to fill her mind day in and day out. She dreamt of his eyes at night; sometimes sexually, but more often than not her dreams about him were loving and romantic. She found herself turning down offers from men in her area despite not officially being in any sort of committed relationship with her beloved priest of the Unholy Ghost. As smitten with darkness as they both were, their hearts were full of love for one another. They were two star-crossed lovers reaching out to the beast with many names.

Finally, the Ghost tour ended in their home country, Sweden, and Copia was free to meet up with Alexis once more. He initially intended to come back to America for her, but she had never left her homeland before. He insisted upon paying for her to come spend a week with him in Linköping. As a motivated member of The Clergy, he was compensated well for his diligence. Being a bachelor (who had previously intended to stay that way) he had very little to spend his money on and he was excited to spoil someone for a change.

Copia rented an entire hotel for the two of them a few miles from the city off of the Göta Canal. It was perfectly secluded, but they could watch boats travel from the Baltic sea in to Sweden from the patio. They ventured to the Valla Wood and he showed her around the historical monuments in the city. Linköping was very heavy with religious history and had an old cathedral left standing that they visited. Alexis of course had to ask Copia how he was able to enter without bursting in to flame. Luckily for her, they turned out to have a similar sense of humor. As pleasant and educational as all of these landmarks were, the time spent in each other’s company was much more memorable. They found how alike they were in spite of growing up in opposite ends of the world. Their taste in music was similarly diverse, their movie tastes more specific (horror), and their taste in something as simple as food choice was eerily complementary. Those surface similarities led to conversations about deeper connections. Their morals and values lined up almost perfectly; their differences integrated well with empathetic conversation instead of arguments.

Only two days in to her trip, Alexis unconsciously made the decision to spend her life at this man’s side, supporting him in every way so long as he did the same for her. It was on this day that they were wandering in Valla Wood, the natural reserve in the middle of the city, that her heart became convinced that he’s always been her other half. Some paths in the wood were used by university students and joggers and were therefore not as private. Copia showed Alexis an area off of a small footpath that had a quiet stream near some mossy boulders. There were blue flowers all around that looked almost purple. Alexis was speechless with how perfect this hidden spot was. Even the flowers were her favorite color; something she did not think was an oversight in Copia’s plan.

“This is incredible!” She grabbed Copia’s hands as she stood before him.

“Nothing compares to you.” Such a softly spoken statement, and yet it resonated within her in a way that no other man’s words ever had. He caressed her cheek and allowed his face to reflect the raw emotion beneath the surface. It was apparent that he was lost and unfamiliar with the strength of his feelings. Alexis felt her eyes become blurry. She had never felt this strongly before, either. Instead of words, she used her kisses to let him know what was on her mind. There were many soft touches and happy little noises. Their bodies remained pressed together after their lips separated. Her hands were laced on the back of his neck, his rested on the small of her back. A passerby would have seen two lovers embracing as tenderly as if they had just been pronounced married.

Later that night, after their millionth round of dirtying up every inch of the hotel, they sat on the patio in robes of black silk. Their first time having sex was soft, sweet romantic intercourse. It was also the first time anyone had ever bothered to make sure Alexis had an orgasm. That orgasm was slow and drawn-out, leaving her feeling heavy and satisfied until sleep overtook the two of them. After they had gotten more familiar with the way their bodies worked together, it had become much rougher and more exploratory. Because of the most recent bout they were both exhausted and had been unable to keep smiles off of their faces. They held hands as they lazily stargazed. Copia turned to watch Alexis look up at the sky. When she noticed him watching her she blew him a kiss. His half smile at that moment would be what helped her sleep at night when they were apart.

“I love you.” His hand squeezed hers for a second as he said this.

“I love you, too.”

A few short, short days after this they had to share a tearful, but temporary, goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter also takes place on October 31st, 2017; however, it has a few memories from years past.


	4. The Ritual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bond consecrated through ritual.
> 
>  
> 
> TW: Very mild dubious consent

Six more weeks had passed before Father Copia and Alexis couldn’t stand the distance anymore. He flew out to Denver to spend time with her. He had been to the city before, but only working during tours for Ghost. He had only once had a chance to explore the nightlife. This time Alexis took him around to the metal bars and breweries downtown. He caught many jealous looks as he brought out the laughing, glowing side of Alexis. The two had a few nights of heavy drinking and occasionally enjoying some uppers on the side. These nights were full of energy that Father Copia had not felt since his twenties.

What Alexis had not expected, though, was for Copia to take her to a creepy, run-down drive-in for a double classic horror movie feature. He’d arranged for them to be able to sit on the rooftop with their own radio and a pile of concessions. He handed her a box of their favorite candy, Sour Patch Kids, nonchalantly. She reached in and felt something odd in the box that didn’t belong. In the dim flicker of the old film being displayed on the worn-down silver screen, she shook the box to see what was inside. She shook a little too hard and some pieces fell out. Copia quickly got out of his seat and knelt down before her. She assumed it was to be his gentlemanly self and pick up after her, clumsy as she generally was. She pulled out the hard object and at first didn’t believe what she was seeing. Copia wasn’t cleaning up after her. He was kneeling in front of her on one knee. She dropped the box in to her lap and he took her left hand in both of his. Her right hand was left holding an ancient looking silver ring with one single diamond. The edges were shaped like intertwining vines and each side had a jawless skull just below the base of the diamond. Copia gently took the ring after she had looked at it and he kissed the top of her hand.

“My dearest Alexis, may I ask for you to bestow your love upon me for the rest of our lives?” His white iris shone in the dark, deep within the black paint around his eyes. Barely a second had a chance to pass before she was in his arms crying and kissing his face all over. He held her tightly and returned her kisses. She stopped and let him put the perfectly fitting ring on her finger. It was exactly what she never knew she’d always wanted her ring to look like.

They married within weeks, eager to begin their lives together. Although he was a priest, he was a Satanic priest who didn’t believe in withholding in celibacy. The Clergy approved with his reassurance that he would forever remain as persistent in his work as before. They even went so far as bringing Alexis to Linköping for a Satanic themed wedding.

The wedding was closer to a dark ritual than what one thinks of when they hear the word “wedding.” They stood before an altar in a dark room lit with only black candles. The only sound was a monstrance clock and the quiet chanting of Nameless Ghouls in hooded robes. Alexis entered from one door in nothing but a sheer cloak, led by Papa Emeritus I carrying a thurible, swaying it from side to side and chanting the Latin more loudly. Papa Emeritus II was standing at the head of the altar, as Papa Nihil would not be bothered with performing a wedding. Papa II and Copia were very close with each other, and although Papa II was mildly envious, he was amicable about performing the ceremony. Papa Emeritus III entered through the door opposite of Alexis, leading a cloaked Copia with a thurible as well. Papa III’s chanting was more musical. They were led to the altar and their hands (Alexis’s right and Copia’s left) were joined together, bound with a braided crimson ribbon. A large chalice filled halfway with a green liquid was on the altar in between two candles in silver holders, twisted with images of succubi. Two champagne glasses were on either side of the chalice with horns of ram at the edges of the altar.

At the end of their sappy vows, Papa II pulled an athame from his sleeve. His mitre shimmered in the candlelight. The incense from the thuribles was intoxicating to almost a hallucinogenic extent. Papa II then prayed to Sathanas in Latin with increasing intensity. This was Alexis and Copia’s cue to hold their entwined hands up. Papa II slashed the air quickly with the athame, slicing the edges of their hands open. Blood poured out as they tried not to make any noises in reaction to the sharp pain. They held their hands over the chalice until it filled to the brim. When their arms lowered, the sound of their mixing blood was dripping in the same beat as the clock. The air felt like warm cotton pressing against their skin. It grew warmer and warmer with each passing moment. They were pronounced bound by blood in Unholy Matrimony by Papa Emeritus II.

Alexis and Copia raised the chalice together and poured its contents in to each glass. The substance that the chalice contained prior to adding their blood was pure absinthe. Shortly after sharing their binding drink, the couple shared their first married kiss. Hallucinations of depravity filled her mind as their lips were locked. She felt her other pair of lips swell underneath her cloak and she moved to untie the robe’s rope belt subconsciously. A voice in her mind whispered you crave the wand. You see through me what lies beyond.

“Not yet, love. Here,” Copia’s voice echoed from across the universe and he led her by the hand in to darkness.

The world was grainy and Alexis felt she could see through it to the fires underneath. The bowels of the earth hide the pits of Hell the voice added another mental whisper. Her back felt a hard coolness as she was gently lowered, suddenly naked, on to a marble slab in the center of a ring of black candles. Her hand was freed from the binding ribbon. The monstrance clock ticked and tocked, hypnotizing her and lighting up her libido. Copia was climbing atop the slab, kissing her thighs as he moved up to her. His mustache tickled. Each of the Papas were surrounding them on the three other sides of the slab. They were all leaning over Alexis. Their images moved apart and together like a drunken haze. They fused in to one horrifying face for a moment, lined up to where their ghostly eyes were as one, their skull paint bound in to one demonic countenance. Copia’s tongue plunged in to her. With each movement of his tongue, she felt herself looking up in to a new hallucination. Papas II and III were each fondling one breast each as they pulled their cocks out of their robes to stroke. Their cocks were similar in size but not shape; Papa II’s was perfectly straight while Papa III’s had a significant upward curve. Alexis leaned her head back to look at Papa Emeritus the First. As old as he was, she was unsure if he would participate or just watch. A distant part of her did not want him to participate, but this current part of her knew that he must in order to complete the ritual of her consummation with Copia.

Copia’s tongue went back and forth from her throbbing clit to her dripping opening in slow movements. His fingers tickled and scratched along her thighs, giving her goosebumps across her body. The Papa brothers were twisting and pinching her nipples, which always brought an orgasm closer for her. Papa I lifted his robe and pulled out the most varicose phallus she had ever seen. It repulsed her, but she was drawn to it nonetheless. She opened her mouth to receive him and he pushed his way inside. The veins of his cock were firm and felt strange in her mouth. His robe was brushing across her face as he started at a slow pace with strained grunts. Copia opened her legs and sat between them on his knees. He slid her downwards a little bit until he could get inside of her. She was so wet that he had to guide himself in with his hands; his cock was slipping all around the outside of her. He and Papa I were thrusting in unison, compacting her body and releasing it. The air grew ever thicker.

The Papas all took turns in Alexis’s mouth, none finishing. She used her hands to stroke the Papas on each side of her instead of them doing it themselves. The hardness of each of them under her hands and in her throat was pleasurable for her. She loved knowing when she could turn a man on and make him lust for her. The firmness of all of the Papas all around her along with their varying noises of pleasure were very arousing.

Alexis was brought to the edge, then pulled back slowly, repeatedly. Her body was full of exhaustion and extreme pleasure. The absinthe was creating devil creatures dancing around the edges of her vision, or perhaps they were the Ghouls previously chanting during the ceremony. It was impossible to tell in her state of mind. She heard whispering from behind the Papas; seductive, dark whispering that was not inherently part of this Earth. She couldn’t make out what the words were, but they would have made her feel fear if she were anyone else. The air itself oozed with darkness until the candles made no mark of light on it. Alexis was entering eroto-comatose lucidity.

She envisioned The Clergy as the leading religious influence on the world instead of Christianity-derived religions. Pope Innocent X sat sacred and profound atop a massive three-headed beast whose mouth opened to the pits of Hell. Three sets of red bat-like wings arched over them. His face was covered in boils and he looked skeletal. There were thousands of screams filling the air as pathetic humans in despair were burning and being torn apart by devilish fiends. Corpses were carried in to a flaming pit while Death stood nearby, woven in mist. The last thing that Alexis saw of this scene was a pale white horse carrying in an unseen rider past the figure of Death.

Alexis was ripped back from her vision before she could articulate the details to anyone by her body betraying her mind. The constant stimulation of the Emeritus bloodline and of the one who held her heart brought her past the point of no return. Her body, as exhausted as it was, could not hold back from orgasm any longer. The Papas and Copia all seemed of one mind, all thrusting in to her or stroking above her in time with the eerie sound of the monstrance clock. They all came together as one rush of sexual energy. Papa II was at his place in her mouth and his cum tasted magnificently like sweet icing. She couldn’t get enough and kept sucking until he had to pull himself out of her with his hand. Copia had abstained from any sexual release for days in preparation for this so that his load was able to fill her up completely. Before he even removed his cock, his magic potion niveous was dripping out of her on to the marble. Papas I and II both came all over her chest, leaving hot liquid across her that quickly cooled as it ran down her sides. The blood loss, orgasm, absinthe, and drainage of energy left Alexis to fall in to an “undisturbable rest” for two days.


	5. The Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse in to home life for the couple and an early visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to give a big shoutout to [ Lulu ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyLulu), [ this Ghuleh ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purityschaos), and [ Karo ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourpatchkaro) for the support and feedback!! There are others but I can't link them. Thank you so so so much for the support!
> 
> This chapter takes place on November 1st, 2017.

Their Satanic wedding had no friends or relatives for a few reasons; the main being the obvious sexual tones of the ritual. Other reasons were that Alexis was distant with her family, had trouble keeping friends, and Cardinal Copia wasn’t entirely sure who his family was. He had virtually no memories from before joining The Clergy. He was barely a teenager when they took him in and started to train him to climb the ranks. He started off at the very bottom and worked very hard throughout his life to become a priest. Most of The Cardinal’s memories from before The Clergy included listening to as much music as he could get his hands on and going to see musicals. These memories were hard to draw out of him and he usually recalled no other faces in them; only himself and the experiences themselves. Although he was very amiable, Copia did not have any long-term friends due to his level of involvement in The Clergy. His closest friend was Papa Emeritus II and he had befriended a few of the Nameless Ghouls/Ghoulettes around.

Both Copia and Alexis were perfectly content enjoying their little family consisting of only the two of them. Alexis’s family approved of her eloping with The Cardinal, seeing as her parents were metalheads in to Satanism, but they remained distant as far as contact went. This left Alexis with no strong ties to anyone but her love. Once the two were wed they settled down in Asheville, North Carolina with a mission from The Clergy. This is when Cardinal Copia was instructed to open his museum and use it as a front so that they could have a hidden parish in the east coast of the US. They had other territories in the US, of course, but one more never hurt when your organization is trying to achieve so much all over the world. As the museum grew in popularity, Copia achieved his own successes within The Clergy. Before he knew it, he was promoted to Cardinal.

Now, Cardinal Copia’s Museum of Mortality was established and had become a beloved part of the community. As entangled in Christianity as the area was, the dark appeal of the museum was infectious. It was one more lure over to the pleasures of darkness. The steps to sin must sometimes be small steps, taken gradually to avoid awareness and resistance. Cardinal Copia’s charisma sucked in the most innocent of souls and was usually able to eventually hire them on as Ghouls.

Not only was his personality charismatic, his musical talent was hypnotic. One of the things Alexis was drawn in by was the surprise of Copia’s singing. She had first heard it on her initial trip to Linköping. He was singing in the shower and did not bother holding back. His voice lured you in with open arms only to promise you to Satan himself. The varying sounds he could achieve with it were enough to make anyone melt. From low, evil sounding whispers to high, drawn-out notes in perfect pitch, Cardinal Copia was captivating.

This morning, for example, Alexis had woken to the soft tinkle of piano keys floating up to her bedroom from the music room downstairs. She smiled up at the canopy with her eyes still closed. She let herself bask in the warmth left behind by her love on his pillow, knowing that he must’ve recently gotten out of bed to write music. Lately he had had a major increase in musical creativity. He was writing enough to make an entire album. She heard him singing distantly and she felt her heart skip a beat. It didn’t matter how many years she had heard his singing. Each time she heard it was like the first time.

Alexis got out of bed and put on a negligee; her version of a robe. She quietly padded down the stairs, trying to avoid interrupting her love. The closer she got to the music room, the more her heart ached from the melancholy song. The melody that Copia was working on expressed sorrowful longing despite having no lyrics that she knew of. Alexis entered the room on the tip of her toes as she wanted to see him at work without bothering him. He was poised perfectly on the piano bench, his face set deeply in concentration. Cardinal Copia allowed the song to fade out with his softer and softer keystrokes.

“Good morning, dearest.” He finished up by scribbling down some notes on a music sheet and turned to her, standing as he did so. He was in his pajamas, a pair of loose, black, silky pants. He looked particularly delicious without a shirt on. His small patch of chest hair and his happy trail always looked enticing.

“How do you always hear me, even when I’m being quiet?” They hugged and he kissed her forehead.

“I don’t hear you, my dear. I feel your presence.” She smiled at his ever-ominous answer. He held out one arm to the piano bench and invited her to sit next to him. “Would you like to hear what I’m working on?”

Alexis sat down; she always felt like a teenage fangirl when he’d share his unfinished work with her. Copia started playing a tune that evoked heartbreak within the first few notes. He sang softly along with it. “Can you hear me say your name forever? Can you see me longing for you forever? Would you let me touch your soul forever? Can you see me longing for you forever, forever?” The piano continued, but the lyrics were unfinished. The song rose to a dramatic crescendo and faded back down to a slow end. When it did end, Cardinal Copia looked over to see what she thought of it.

“It’s so heart wrenching and somehow still so full of love,” she said. “You always know exactly how to pour emotion in to your music in a way that others can feel it, too. I can’t wait to hear this song finished.”

“Thank you, my love.” The Cardinal seemed pleased with this answer and he held her hands in his. They sat in contented silence for a moment before heading back up to their room for some more relaxation before the day had to officially start. Alexis knew that once Sister Imperator was in town she would see very little of her husband. Alexis planned to get a small nap in and to cuddle with The Cardinal. Plans of that nature don’t always seem to pan out. 

When they got up to their room they shared a kiss by the foot of the bed that was intended to be sweet and short. Copia’s lips lingered for an extra moment. This was the only signal that Alexis’s body needed to change her mindset completely. Her nipples hardened underneath the satin of her negligee. She slid her arms along Cardinal Copia’s sides, savoring the feeling of her forearms moving across his soft skin. He looked down and noticed her arousal. He gave her a smirk with one eyebrow raised and pulled her in more closely.

“I thought we were going to take a nap?” His voice had a teasing lilt to it. She pushed him down on to the bed very suddenly with a grin that he returned.

“Maybe after.”

Alexis straddled him and pinned his wrists down by his head. She shimmied a little bit; just enough for him to feel that she didn’t bother with panties under her nighty. She could feel him growing hard underneath her. The only thing keeping him from entering her was his thin pants. She moved a little so that she could feel the tip of him pressing slightly in to her through the material. He moaned a little bit and pushed his hips upward. She moved farther away.

“Huh-uh,” she teased. “Not until I let you.”

The Cardinal made a whiny noise although he looked perfectly happy with this. He feigned a struggle to escape her hold on his wrists. He sighed dramatically. “I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it. I hope you don’t torture me too much.”

Alexis gave his shoulder a quick, unexpected bite. He winced and made a small ooh of enjoyment. She moved down his body as far as she could while still holding his wrists, kissing his chest on the way. Stopping to give his side a small nip, she made sure he could feel her stomach against the now wet patch of his pants. Her breasts rubbed along his lower stomach while she switched from kisses to bites across his torso. On her way back up to kiss his face, she bit his nipple barely hard enough to make him hiss between his teeth. She wondered if he knew how much she loved to hear that.

Their noses were even and their lips were only a breath away. Alexis let her lips brush against The Cardinal’s but didn’t quite kiss him. His lips tightened for a kiss and she pulled back, smiling at his frustration that she didn’t let it happen. Then she swooped down and kissed him roughly. One hand let go of his wrist and she grabbed a handful of his messy hair, pushing her hips down on to him and grinding against him. The wetness on his pants both from her and his own precum stretched the material, letting more of his tip push its way in to her. Biting his bottom lip, Alexis let out a small uhnn and pressed down for more of him.

A blaring Black Sabbath ringtone and the sound of a vibrating cell phone cut through the air, making both of them jump.

“Don’t answer,” Alexis whispered in to Cardinal Copia’s mouth. He turned and looked up at the nightstand where his phone was charging. He couldn’t quite make out the contact name on the screen. “Please.”

“I can always call them back, I suppose,” The Cardinal said and shoved his hips upwards making Alexis gasp. The ringing stopped and they continued their morning venture. The sunlight was shining through a gap in their heavy curtains. Dust fuzzies could be seen in the ray of sunlight. The morning was warm and sweet, just as their lovemaking was to be.

Cardinal Copia’s phone once again started blaring the intro to Supernaut, causing a loud sigh from both him and Alexis. She raised her eyebrows with her lips tightly shut and rolled off of him. He grabbed his phone with irritated quickness.

“Yes?” He demanded. “Of course I didn’t answer the fucking phone, I have taken the day off, which you have known for weeks.” There was a pause and he sat up in to a rigid posture, his back facing Alexis. “Fuck!”

The Cardinal hung up and jumped up from the bed. He started towards the dresser and hurriedly opened the stained oak drawers, scrambling for a shirt.

“What is it?” Alexis asked getting up as well. She had only seen her husband this way very rarely. It was usually only when-

“She always has to catch me off guard!” He was pulling the shirt on and buttoning it so quickly that he missed a hole and made the shirt uneven. Alexis moved forward to help him. He sighed and let her fix his shirt. “You should get dressed, too, love. She’s coming.”

“But her flight wasn’t due in until tonight!”

“I know. Apparently she is on her way here instead of to the museum. She caught an earlier flight without telling anyone until she landed. She loves to make an entrance.” His shirt fixed, Cardinal Copia dropped his pajama bottoms and started putting on his skintight black pants. Alexis couldn’t help noticing that his perfect cock still had a firmness to it. Imagining putting his semi-hard flesh in her mouth made her wet all over again. He noticed her looking and she saw his shoulders relax. He smiled and gyrated his hips to make it swirl humorously while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Ohhhh my god I love you so much,” Alexis said through laughter. He pulled his pants up and went to her. His lips firmly planted a kiss on her forehead the moment the doorbell rang.

“Grab some clothes and meet us downstairs, my dearest.” He walked briskly from their bedroom and she heard his hurried footsteps down the main staircase. She knew he was probably flattening his messy hair, pulling back his usual untamed strand in the front. She grabbed a lacy black cocktail dress and pulled it on, not bothering with a bra or panties. She fixed her hair quickly in their floor length mirror. Alexis wasn’t a huge fan of seeing anyone without makeup, but it would have to happen now with her oh-so-favorite person in the world.


	6. The Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sister Imperator takes a tour of The Cardinal's home.

Muffled voices became clearer as Alexis made her way down the stairs in what she hoped was a gracious manner. She pasted her most professional beaming smile on her face and rounded the bottom of the stairs in to the entry hall. Sister Imperator was flanked by two Sisters of Sin barely out of their teenage years. She was in her casual plain gray garb, her ponytail loose, and her grucifix hung low.

“Hello, Sister.” Alexis held out her arms for the expected kissy-cheek greeting so common among higher class women, though they all seemed to hate it equally. The greeting was returned and Sister Imperator held Alexis by her upper arms, Sister’s huge grin indicating trouble.

“Alexis,” She drew the name out in false cheer. “Don’t you look comfortable this morning. I hope you don’t mind my premature visit. I simply cannot wait to get started on this next little project.” She smiled over at The Cardinal who also had his best forced charming expression on.

“Sister, you know you’re always welcome here.” The Cardinal took over the conversation, saving his wife from an awkward response. “Come, let me give you the grand tour of our home. Alexis, my love, would you be so kind as to grab refreshments for us?” Sister Imperator gave a jerk of her head to the Sisters.

“Of course.” Alexis nodded slightly, hiding her relief at getting to avoid Sister Imperator’s company even if for a few moments. The Sisters followed her to the kitchen in obedient silence.

Alexis started to open a cupboard for wine glasses when a Sister stepped forward to do it instead. Shrugging, Alexis backed up and watched the Sisters busy themselves around the kitchen without a word. It was unnerving how they knew exactly where to look for a silver tray and red wine without opening a single incorrect door or cupboard. Eyes narrowed, Alexis held out her arms for the tray that was now decadently arranged with the wine glasses and bottle. The Sisters of Sin placed it in her open arms and gave slight bows to her, still not speaking. She turned and walked through the kitchen doors to follow the sounds of her love’s velvety voice.

“-the parlor with original furnishings.” Alexis heard Cardinal Copia finish his sentence as she entered the room. He had one arm out, showing the room in all of its grandeur to Sister Imperator. It had double doors leading in to a square room with a fireplace. The opposite end of the room had a large, open archway that connected to their study. As Copia had mentioned, the furnishings were the original Victorian furniture from the first owners of the home. They had replaced the wallpaper, though, with half paneled walls that had purple striped wallpaper on the top half. The stripes were accented with grucifixes that were slightly different shades of purple, blending in almost unnoticeably.

“Hmm.” Sister Imperator was looking around, her expression was impossible to read. It could have been genuinely impressed or it could have been hiding judgment. The Clergy had her own flair added to its headquarters and it was much different than Victorian décor.

Alexis set the tray down on a side table, scooting a lamp to the side as she did so. She grabbed the wine bottle and uncorked it. As she turned to grab a wine glass, she knocked the table and the lamp fell, bulb exploding. “Shit!”

“My, haven’t you picked a graceful one, dear Cardinal?” Sister Imperator smirked while her Sisters of Sin stared with matching expressions. Alexis clenched her teeth and leaned to pick up the lamp.

“I’ve got it, dear,” The Cardinal whispered as he swooped down to pick up the lamp. “Please don’t worry about her,” he said even more quietly, barely breathing sound to Alexis. “Can you kindly pour her wine and be the sweet, alluring woman I fell in love with?”

Alexis went about her task and poured wine for Sister Imperator. She handed the glass to her and said “I don’t know how he puts up with me.” She then put on her sweetest face and made small talk with the Big Boss while The Cardinal hurriedly swept up the broken bulb. The rest of the tour of the house seemed to go more quickly and without incident. Alexis felt that Sister Imperator was warming up to her a little by the end of it, but that could have been because they both had already drank their glasses of wine and gotten refills. It had even gotten comfortable enough for Sister Imperator to make jokes with Alexis; a first.

“Sister, would you care to join us for dinner tonight?” The Cardinal asked at the end of the tour of their mansion. Alexis agreed and requested that she stay; offering a hearty meal of prime rib and a variety of accompanying dishes. She even went so far as to offer tiramisu, Sister Imperator’s preferred after-dinner sweet. These things were easy to offer, as The Cardinal had a pair of Ghouls hired who were trained as chefs.

“Actually, I am quite spent from my travels.” Sister Imperator handed her wine glass to Alexis without looking at her. She had eyes only for The Cardinal. “Tomorrow morning, I expect that you be prepared for a lengthy discussion about your future.” There was the side glance at Alexis that she had been waiting for. “You will be at your museum at 7 o’clock sharp and I will be waiting in your conference room with details. You will not be late. For any reason.” Another small glare at Alexis.

“Of course, Sister.” Cardinal Copia handed his empty glass to Alexis as well, but he included a kiss on the cheek. “I will show you out so that you may enjoy some rest in The Clergy guest rooms.”

He ushered Sister Imperator and the Sisters of Sin out to a waiting limousine. Sister didn’t even spare a glance back at Alexis, let alone a goodbye. That was quite the change from her jokes a minute ago, Alexis thought as she went back to the kitchen with the empty glasses. She set them in the sink and sighed. It was only around noon, but she felt as though she had been touring her own home for days. She watched her love help the three Sisters in to the limo and wave at them as they drove off.

Things had never been congenial between Alexis and Sister Imperator. They had never been unbearable either, though. She was fit the stereotypical mother-in-law trope for Alexis although Cardinal Copia did not see her as a mother figure.

When The Cardinal was back inside, he closed the door and leaned against it with a sigh as Alexis came back from the kitchen. His eyes were shut for a moment and it was only then that Alexis remembered that he didn’t have time to put on his black paint that morning. He would hear all about it from Sister Imperator the following morning.

“And so it begins,” he lamented. He opened his eyes again and held out his arms without moving. Alexis cuddled up to him against the door. She put her head against his chest and listened to his heart beat. His voice rumbled through his chest; a sound that Alexis would never tire of. “I am sorry that you had to deal with her rudeness, my sweet.” Alexis just shrugged. “You shouldn’t have to. You are deserving of more than that. I cannot stand having to listen to her disrespect you in our own home.”

“It’s okay, I know how it is for you.” Alexis pulled back and looked up. The Cardinal looked so sincere. His eyebrows were raised in concern as he examined her face. He seemed satisfied for the moment and allowed Alexis to lead him to their kitchen. “Let’s call up our dinner order. I think that prime rib and tiramisu still sounds pretty alright, don’t you?”

The Cardinal took care of the details while Alexis went upstairs to finally bathe. Being grimy in the mornings made her skin crawl, which was yet one more reason that Sister Imperator’s surprise visit was unpleasant. She normally showered in the mornings, but today she already needed a break. Their huge jacuzzi tub (still Victorian style with clawed feet and all) called her name. Alexis started the warm water flowing and poured in copious amounts of bubble bath scented with lavender and chamomile. She lit several candles and turned the main light off. She flung her dress off in to the corner of the bathroom as if it became offensive just by being her attire during the visit. She slunk down in the tub and closed her eyes, listening to the water from the tap flow like a waterfall.

Another noise joined the water flow, but Alexis did not open her eyes. She was familiar with this new sound. It was the soft creak of the door opening and the gentle footsteps of her husband. He didn’t say a word. She heard the slither of cloth on the tile floor followed by the disturbance of the water in the tub. She opened one eye and saw Cardinal Copia exhale heavily as he also slid down the wall of the tub across from her. The hairy skin of his legs brushed against the smooth skin of hers. The bubbles were only at their stomachs since the water was still filling up. He spread his arms across the edge of the tub and leaned his head back. Alexis watched his chest slowly move up and down as his breathing relaxed. The candlelight emphasized his muscles. She used one toe to tickle the inside of his thigh. His head lifted so that he could meet her gaze. She expected him to be amused by her tickling, but instead his somber expression remained. She turned off the tap and scooted around the edge of the tub so that she was next to him, one of his arms now around her shoulders. One of her wet hands rested on The Cardinal’s chest, leaving droplets of water to trace his body hair down to the bubbles.

“I love you.” Alexis kissed the spot where his jaw met his neck. She let her nose tickle the lobe of his ear a little as she pulled back. He made a small “hmmm” and favored her with a smile.

“And I love you. More than I could ever let you know.” Alexis let her hand drop, not thinking where in the water it may end up. She felt soft flesh rub gently across the back of her hand. The Cardinal’s hands were still above water. They both seemed surprised, but neither was displeased.

She let her hand drift along his shaft down to where it met his body. She moved slightly down to take his jewels in her hand. She massaged them lightly while her other hand started to rub his shaft. He relaxed more against the tub. More blood rushed in to his member. Alexis moved faster as he got harder and as his breathing became louder. She got in his lap, not quite lowering herself on to him yet. He cupped her breasts in his hands and put his face against them. He was kissing and biting, pulling a little bit at her nipples. Suddenly, The Cardinal flipped Alexis over and bent her over the edge of the tub. The water sloshed over the edge. The patter of it on the floor drowned out her quiet oh! of surprise. She didn’t resist. The Cardinal wrapped her hair around his hand and yanked her head back far enough for it to almost be painful, but not too far for her to be unable to breathe.

“Where were we?” He was curled over her, speaking in to her ear while his cock was between her legs, pressed up against her labia. Her throat was pulled too tight to speak, so she used her body to reply. She pressed backwards and moved her hips so that she was using her lips to stroke him. “Mmm, that’s what I thought.”

He used his free hand to rub against her opening. The wetness was different there, he could tell it was from her and not the water in the tub. He put one finger in slowly and moved it in a corkscrew pattern, feeling all around her. He tickled the soft spot just inside of her; her G-spot. He loosened his grip in her hair enough to let her moans not sound so strangled, although that turned him on greatly. Cardinal Copia’s cock entered her against his finger, still rubbing her G-spot. He was being louder with his moans than usual; as if they hadn’t had sex in weeks. Alexis loved hearing his deep voice moan while he was rough.

He let go of her hair suddenly and Alexis let her head drop forward. Her throat felt abused and she liked it. She joined him in louder-than-usual moaning and listened to their sounds of pleasure along with the water sloshing and the sound of skin hitting skin. The hand that was holding her hair slapped her ass that echoed in the room. It was hard enough to make her shriek. He pulled his other hand away from her pussy so that both of his hands could spread her cheeks. He slowed his thrusts and started moving more side to side than in and out. She could feel him against every bit of her, pushing her hips in motion with his.

One finger momentarily traced the rim of her other hole before slipping inside. She let out a slow moan. His free hand crept up to her throat and he held it softly. The humid room made it hard to breathe as it was. Sweat was dripping through Alexis’s hair down her face. The Cardinal’s hand tightened around her throat, choking her lightly. He slipped out of her. She knew what was next. Her body started quivering with need. “Yes. Yes.”

He used her natural wetness as lubrication and slid in to her ass easily. He tightened his hold on her throat slightly as he did so, loosening his grip again when he was deep inside of her. As each thick inch made its way in, Cardinal Copia had taken his time in feeling the sensation. During this, they were both letting out throaty “aaaahs” and were both tingling from the inside out. Alexis always preferred anal, but they savored it and did not do it very often. This moment of deep euphoria was the reason. The world melted away and all that existed was the pleasurable sensation resonating through them. Alexis found her breath hitching in her throat and The Cardinal choked her harder. Her vision started going black as she was closer and closer to cumming. Her consciousness wavered. As if he were always hiding an extra sense, Cardinal Copia seemed to always know the exact moment she was about to faint from lack of air. The thrusts became harder, smacking against Alexis hard enough to almost push her out of the tub. When she was being choked and sodomized, her orgasms rocked her whole body and made her legs thrash around. This time, her entire body shook like she was possessed. All she could see was blackness and little stars, but she could feel everything in extreme sensitivity. The Cardinal let himself go and she could feel him cumming inside of her. His body was tensing with every wave of his orgasm. He had to let go of Alexis’s throat so that his nearly uncontrollable hands wouldn’t actually hurt her. They came together, nearly screaming together.

As the world came back to them, their breathing labored, they separated. Alexis felt a vein in her temple pulsing almost painfully. The humidity in the room was overwhelming. This was the last thought she had before the darkness overtook her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 1st, 2017.


	7. The Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation during The Cardinal's last night before becoming overworked leaves Alexis feeling confused.

Jumbled and distant dreams played in Alexis’s mind, making her feel like she was in a drunken daze. She was reminded of the aftermath of her wedding ritual. While she was in that two-day sleep, she had vision after vision of Hell on earth brought on by the birth of the son of Satan. She couldn’t recall details upon waking, but she was able to recall the feeling and overall message of the visions. They were full of Sister Imperator, Papa Nihil, and her love, Cardinal Copia. The surroundings were always burning and full of screams. Those with the mark of the beast upon their hearts were saved and blessed with power from the Dark One. They were left to oversee the world’s destruction and to revel in the beauty of chaos.

When Alexis woke it was dark outside. She was in her bed, staring up at the canopy. A dim lamp on the bedside table was on and The Cardinal was sitting on the side of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded. He was dressed in his usual skin-tight black outfit; he always dressed his best even when he was at home for the day. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He heard her stirring and turned to look over her.

“How are you feeling, my love?” He ran one hand down the side of her face, stopping to cradle her cheek. “I don’t think the heat agreed with you.”

“No, I don’t suppose it did. I’m feeling alright now.” Her head pulsed painfully as if calling her out on her white lie. The touch of his hand was the only pleasant oasis of feeling on her body.

Copia didn’t seem to fully believe her, but he let it go. “You were quite restless in your sleep, my dearest. Were your dreams troubling you?” His hand slid from her cheek back into his lap.

Alexis strained to remember, but the inferno she dreamt of had faded out of her mind almost immediately upon waking. She shook her head and moved slowly to get out of their bed. She had been dressed in her negligee while she was passed out. The Cardinal was always so careful to think of every way to keep her comfortable and happy. She smiled at the gesture. They both rose from the bed and shared a loving kiss.

“Our dinner should be done any moment.” Copia was holding her while she found her footing. She had completely forgotten that a Ghoul was coming by to help them with cooking tonight. Clothes might be a good idea, then, she thought and grabbed her dress from earlier, which her husband had thoughtfully hung up on the bathroom door for her. This time she made and effort and put on her bra and some silky black panties. He watched her until he was sure she would be alright on her own. “I’ll meet you down there, dearest. Are you sure you’re doing alright?”

“I’m fine, I promise.” Lying never felt great when it came to her Cardinal, but this time she felt it necessary. She didn’t want to explain to him that she felt dizzy, sick to her stomach, and that her entire body ached. He didn’t need to worry about her feeling terrible when he was already bothered by Sister Imperator’s visit. “I just need a moment to freshen up.”

Slipping in to the bathroom, she turned to give Copia a reassuring smile and blew him a kiss as she shut the door. Leaning over the bathroom sink, she splashed ice cold water on her face to try and wake herself up more. Alexis looked up at the mirror and saw her face distort grotesquely. Her reflection’s eyes bled black and smiled at her with bloody teeth. The viscous goop running from her eyes in her reflection made her actual face feel dirty, like mud was flung on her. She gasped and the horrifying image was gone. Her heart was beating a million miles per second. Her own wide eyes were staring back at her as she tried to collect herself. I must have been having a nightmare and it carried over, that’s all. Yeah. I’m fine. Why couldn’t she help feeling that Sister Imperator would be happy seeing her shaken like this?

Pausing only for one more moment, Alexis ran a brush through her bed ruffled hair and went downstairs to the dining room. The smell of cooked meat and various herbs made her stomach growl as she got closer to the archway leading in to the dining room. Cardinal Copia was speaking quietly to a nameless Ghoul by the door to the kitchen. They stopped abruptly as she came in and The Cardinal rushed to pull her chair out for her. “Here you are, my dear.” She sat and looked at him quizzically, knowing better than to pry.

Silver dinnerware gleamed in the candlelight of their chandelier. Their dinner was in lidded serving dishes to keep warm. The nameless Ghoul in the corner moved forward to serve them as The Cardinal sat down across from Alexis. 

“I wanted tonight to be special for you since I may not be home as often as I would like.” The Cardinal sounded heavy hearted. The Ghoul leaned over him to place food on his dish. The Cardinal was forced in to a pregnant pause until the Ghoul was done. “Sister Imperator has high demands on her employees, especially myself.” Alexis knew all of this but let him continue without interruption. “I don’t know how long she will be here or what she will have me do for her while she stays. I have a feeling that Sister will take me back to Sweden for some time after her visit here ends. Should this happen, I have asked the Ghouls and Ghoulettes to keep you company if you so wish. The Papas are also aware that you may need something while I am unavailable.” Alexis opened her mouth to protest and insist that she’d be fine as a perfectly capable adult. “My love, it’s not going to be unless you request it. I’ve only given them a, I guess you would call it a heads-up, to the possibility of you needing anything at all. And I do mean anything.”

“And what is that supposed to entail?” Alexis felt that the “anything” implied more than just casual company or favors. She didn’t know what to make of this.

“It means whatever you want it to mean. It can mean nothing, or it can mean everything. I only wish you to know that you have my support to do anything that will ensure your happiness while I am unable to be here for you.” He gave a sigh and the Nameless Ghoul took the cue to leave the room. “This isn’t an easy conversation to have.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“You are my soulmate, Alexis. You are the only person to ever have mattered to me like this. It will always be this way no matter what. I know in my heart that regardless of who you choose to keep company with you will always be my soulmate. I trust you completely and want nothing but your complete happiness. I love you more than anything.”

Alexis cut her steak and took a bite, chewing slowly. This was a lot to take in. Her Cardinal, her love of her life, was willing to let her enjoy the pleasures of other people. Why? Was it really just to keep her happy or was there something he wasn’t telling her? She took her wine glass and sipped her pinot grigio. They’d added a member here and there to their carnal adventures, but had yet to do so separately from each other.

“I love you, too. I’ll keep the offer in mind, but I have to say that it’s very... unexpected.”

“Understandably so. As mentioned, it’s not an offer that has to be taken if you choose not to.” The Cardinal took a deep gulp of his wine; a bloodlike cabernet. “Since that’s been discussed, perhaps we can go about enjoying our evening together before I have to be the marionette of The Clergy?”

Although Alexis couldn’t fully ignore the topic of conversation at dinner, they spent the evening drinking and chatting away like the best friends that they were. They took turns playing music to match their conversations and they spent a lot of the time laughing. The more wine they drank, the sloppier they got. Eventually they were both speaking in cursive. Alexis could never keep herself from laughing when Copia slurred his speech. He was generally so well-composed.

Once their grandfather clock chimed close to midnight, they remembered that Copia had to be up and ready to be professional at 7:00am sharp. They wanted to stay up until the sun rose, but they knew how Sister was. If he smelled of wine during their morning meeting she would flay him alive.

They retired to bed and were laying in the darkness with wine giggles. The laughter turned in to kisses, which turned in to more. They had a sweet and soft round of lovemaking. They both liked being rough, but sometimes it was nice to just enjoy the feel of each other. Alexis loved to feel the slow pushes of the Cardinal moving lightly back and forth in to her. She loved looking up in to his mismatched eyes as his body swayed above hers. He loved her legs wrapped behind his lower back and her arms around his neck. They loved the small mmms and sharp intakes of breath that penetrated the silence of their room. The occasional sounds of movement in the wetness made The Cardinal want to go faster, but he always kept his self-control and paced himself. After a while, Alexis would whisper to him that she wanted to feel him finish inside of her. This would make them both move ever-so-slightly faster until they were both ready to climax. They always made sure to finish together. When they made love slowly like this, they would have their eyes locked for that final moment and they would become lost. After this moment, Alexis asked him not to pull out just yet. She wanted to enjoy the feeling of him resting inside of her one last time before he became enslaved by work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 1st, 2017.


	8. The Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The quietness of the house accentuates the early-onsetting loneliness for Alexis.

It had only been several hours since her Cardinal had disappeared from their bed as she slept, but Alexis’s heart felt hollow already. She’d been separated from him for long periods of time since they met; however, this felt different and she couldn’t quite narrow down why. Perhaps it was the previous night’s dinner conversation, perhaps it was the way that Sister Imperator never failed to make her feel like she was an obstacle that was meant to be overcome. Regardless of the cause, the feeling wouldn’t go away no matter what she did.

As The Cardinal was able to support them both financially, Alexis didn’t bother with a job and usually stayed home working on hobbies or on any favors her love asked of her. She didn’t have much to do in the way of cleaning because The Clergy had Ghouls do these types of chores for them. Today all of her hobbies such as cross-stitching or writing seemed dull and unworthy of energy. The escape that books provided managed to stir up a tinge of interest in her. She gloomily made her way to their library.

The library consisted of an impressive horror collection, of course, but also had the components of your average library. All sorts of fictions genres, non-fiction such as history (with plenty of haunted history), science (with an emphasis on parapsychology), and an entire section on the occult complete with books of rituals. The entire house was frequently as quiet as the grave when Cardinal Copia wasn’t home working on his music. The library always had its own level of hush cast over it. Sound seemed to automatically mute slightly upon entry unless the dusty old gramophone in the corner was playing something. Alexis had a general dislike of utter silence and liked at least some background noise.

Today the library held something new. A Ghoul was dusting the luminous shelves with his back turned to Alexis. She knew they worked in the house while The Cardinal was at work, but she rarely, if ever, saw them. She took advantage of the moment and watched the Ghoul’s careful brushes with the duster. His movements were rhythmic and determined. He did not know anyone was watching, but he worked as if his boss were breathing down his neck. Seeming to hear this thought, the Ghoul froze and turned slowly to look at Alexis. The expressionless mask gave her goosebumps regardless of how used to seeing the Nameless Ghouls she was. The blue eyes peering out from behind the mask held an aura of deep intelligence. He gave a small bow and started to back out of her way, holding one arm out as if to welcome her to pass by him.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt, sorry.” Alexis felt awkwardly intrusive. She often felt that although this house belonged to her and her husband, it wasn’t theirs but The Clergy’s. “You can, er, keep doing what you were doing if you want.”

Those blue eyes never left hers even though she looked away frequently while speaking. He considered her for a moment that felt longer than it was and he turned back to the shelf slowly to resume dusting. When he lifted his arms, his shirt tightened against his chest, hinting at very strong pectorals hidden beneath the fabric intended to conceal varying body types. Alexis felt her face grow warm as she picked a different aisle to walk down on her way to a cushioned chair at the other side of the room. She knew the avoidance was obvious, but she didn’t want to squeeze in to the aisle that the Ghoul was in, either. She had a bookmarked novel next to her favorite chair that she picked up and continued reading. Her eyes kept darting up to look at the dusting Ghoul. His presence seemed only to increase her loneliness rather than diminish it.

-

Days passed with hardly a word from her beloved Cardinal. Some days she’d wake to handwritten notes from him expressing his apologies for not being there to hold her, sometimes adding wishing to “fulfill his husbandly duties” for her. His neat script was always signed with a single loop followed by a period. Texts and calls seemed to be out of the question in Sister’s harsh rulebook. Alexis assumed that his notes were snuck out of the museum offices and passed along by Ghouls/Ghoulettes. She wasn’t sure if her return notes ever made it back to him, but they were gone in the mornings anyway. Oh, how she wished that her Cardinal could at least come home to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place around November 3rd, 2017.


	9. The Escort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexis is temporarily saved from her loneliness by a familiar escort.

The loneliness was becoming too much. One can only go so long without human interaction; especially after being so used to constant affection from the one who holds their heart. The closest she got to interacting with another person was the increasingly frequent “accidental” run-ins with the blue-eyed Ghoul who remained silent. She was starting to long for the sound of their voice, which she had yet to hear.

Alexis caved in and called upon Dante, Papa Emeritus II, to spend time with her outside of her house. She was not only feeling abandoned, she was going stir-crazy and she knew he was in town already (possibly at her husband’s request in case she “needed anything”). He took her out to a restaurant called Sunset Terrace for a gorgeous view over the city. They sat on the heated patio and watched a breeze flow through the trees, now autumnal red, over a lobster dinner accompanied by wine. The murmur of other human beings comforted Alexis. She always felt at ease in Dante’s presence, but tonight she was a little tense. She wasn’t sure what he had thought this night would entail. Her intentions were innocent enough; a desire for company with a friend. Whatever her intentions began as, her past crush on him nagged at the back of her mind.

Aphrodisiacs such as wine especially affected Alexis and had for her entire life. As their dinner drew to a close, she had realized that she was leaning forward and enraptured with every word from Dante’s mouth. He was treating her respectfully, but his eyes began to shine with seduction. In public he chose to wear aviator sunglasses to avoid stares at his mismatched eyes. The evening had grown dark a while ago, so for most of the dinner he had not been wearing them. Papa Emeritus II’s white eye reminded Alexis of her husband’s irresistibility and she remembered his words at their last supper. Guilt struck her heart in a sharp stab, but so did a desire to take this offer. Dante had been why she was at the ritual where she met them both, was he not? She didn’t love him, but her lust for him had been there for years boiling under the surface long before she met her unholy Cardinal. She was initially attracted to his stage appearance with the evil skull paint. After getting to know him better over the years as simply Dante, she grew to find his unmasked appearance just as mesmerizing.

Recklessness accompanied the wine’s influence that had already struck. When Dante offered for her to join him at his hotel for a nightcap she hesitated, sipping her wine to buy herself time. The wine had already given her the warmth that alcohol tends to, but this sip spread extra warmth down to her thighs, urging her to say yes.

They made their way back to his luxurious suite in the Biltmore Estate. The sitting room had multiple windows along the wall showing the beautiful courtyard outside of the estate. There were two couches facing each other across a coffee table. Dante sat on one cushion with another bottle of vino and two glasses. He motioned for Alexis to join him on the same couch. He smelled of ozonic cologne with a fresh spice that lingered in the back of her throat. Alexis suddenly felt her heart speed up and butterflies erupted in her stomach. She realized that he must have put music on when grabbing the wine. It was soft and quiet, something that reminded her of Blue Öyster Cult. A soothing voice sang about a house of affection while her vision blurred a little with the alcohol from this new glass of wine. For a moment she could have sworn that Papa II was wearing his evil skull paint.

He leaned forward and gave her a tentative kiss, remaining close to her face in an offer for more. His eyes were like fire, his gaze ablaze with the burning light of Satan’s grace. The familiar darkness enveloped her and she remembered what drew her in to him all those years ago. Dante was exuding the presence of evil lust, pulling her in as if his eyes were a well into which she was falling. She returned his kiss with fervor. His mustache tickled her upper lip, just like her Cardinal’s did. That pang of guilt was back, making her heart sink to her knees. But he said it was okay; even offered it to you, she thought. Would I even be here if he didn’t put this idea in my head? She crammed the guilt down with the help of the wine coursing through her system. That train of thought could be dealt with later.

Before she knew it, Alexis was in Dante’s lap forcefully kissing him as his hands ran up and down the small of her back. The image of her wedding night popped in to her mind; Dante’s perfectly straight cock over her and in her mouth, spilling his sweet-tasting seed in to her throat. Her body remembered, too. She slid down his lap on to her knees, kneeling in front of him. He undid his pants and placed his hands calmly at his sides, expecting fully what was next. That licentious confidence made Alexis smile as she leaned forward to taste him again. His perfectly smooth shaft felt familiar on her tongue and she moaned with the memory of his luscious taste. The hum of her moan through his cock made him moan softly in return while he pushed his hips momentarily upwards, enticing her to take more in to her mouth. His hand gently ran through her hair and he held her head steady. She explored each spot on his member with her tongue, searching for his more pleasurable spots. She fit his jewels in to her mouth and watched him bite his lip with a sharp inhale. The pattern of deepthroating him, focusing on the uncircumcised head, and enjoying his bits in her mouth brought him noticeably too close and she stopped to give him a break.

“Come back up to me,” he whispered. Alexis obeyed. She felt like she was under his power, compelled to submit to him no matter the command. She slid her panties out from under her dress before climbing in to his lap. They were sopping wet. She could feel her fluids running down her thighs in rivulets. Papa looked once again like he was wearing his skull paint like a translucent mask. He placed his hands on her hips and guided her down on to him slowly. She kept her eyes fixed upon his as she lowered herself on to him. She felt the sensation all the way up to her face, numbing her rosy cheeks. His hands pulled her hips in circles, slowly at first, but the faster and faster. She realized he was no longer pulling her, she was grinding against him roughly at her own will. As they were mostly clothed still, she had the material of his shirt rubbing against her clitoris in a new way for her. His glower showed a sinister pleasure at her indulgence.

Sweaty and exhausted, Alexis continued her alternating pattern of grinding against him in circles and bouncing in his lap for a rough in-and-out motion. She felt closer to cumming when Dante’s eyes closed and his head rolled back. He pressed himself into her as deeply as he could, countering her circular motions in the opposite direction. Lifting his head back up, he met her gaze again. When she’d look in to his white eye she’d see the evil, skeletal Satanic pope looking back in to her. Looking in to his other eye, she would see Dante as a human being with insatiable sexual charisma. Both images merging, he asked her quietly if she was ready to cum with him.

“Please.” She wasn’t sure if she said it out loud or thought the word intently. Either way, he asked her to let herself go and he would make sure that they came together. Alexis moved harder against him until she felt the familiar tingle emanate from her chest through the rest of her body. She felt it build up to an invisible brim and spill outwards. Her walls started clenching, pulled her abs tight with each wave. Dante groaned and let himself go once he felt her tighten around him. She was so sensitive that she could feel every bit of his seed spilling inside of her. She slowed to a stop and watched his heavy-lidded eyes come back in to focus. They shared another deep kiss while he was still warm and hard inside of her.

After cleaning up, they were both sleepy and ready for the night to come to a close. Alexis started to put her shoes on when Dante stopped her.

“It’s late and you are intoxicated. I would be a terrible host if I let such a dear friend leave in this state. Please, stay.” Alexis was admittedly stumbling around a lot. She agreed to spend the night there, but the guilt was creeping back up in to her stomach. This guilt made her look longingly at the couch as a place to sleep while Papa II led her to his lavish bedroom.

Surprisingly, Dante was a fan of spooning and held her throughout the night. Alexis had expected him to be a womanizer who would boot her out the moment he got what he wanted. As it turned out, he was pretty respectful and unexpectedly cuddly. His arms were not too heavy wrapped around her; they were pleasant and comforting. Alexis had been craving human touch, but now that she had it she was as stiff as a board and unable to relax in to his embrace. Dante passed out immediately, unaware of the emotional turmoil festering in her mind as he held her.

Alexis couldn’t manage to sleep deeply and she woke at any small noise; especially the occasional snore from Dante. Sex was one thing, but the intimacy of cuddling hurt her heart more. She felt like she was betraying her husband. This was absurd on many levels. One being that they were Satanists, indulgence in carnal lust was to be without guilt. Another was that, again, her husband had suggested it and even encouraged it. He made it clear that he didn’t mind her sharing company. He didn’t specify whether it was friendship, sex, or romantic things like cuddling. Despite the absurdity, Alexis still felt in her heart that her Cardinal would be upset.

Once she felt sober enough, she crept out of the bed and tiptoed to the sitting room where she called a cab. Usually, she could call a Ghoul to come get her, but in this scenario it felt wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 11th, 2017.


	10. The Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loneliness can materialize in many forms.

Holding her shoes in one hand, Alexis made the walk of shame up her front yard’s path. The sun was peeking over the horizon while her bed called her name. Tiptoeing inside felt silly because it was her own damn house, but she couldn’t help herself. As she made her way to her bedroom, something felt off. The upstairs hallway was still dark, but the spot in front of her bedroom door seemed darker. Her skin prickled and she became more alert. She tried to let her tired eyes adjust to the lighting while she stood at the top of the stairs. The darkness wasn’t clearing up like the rest of the hallway’s lighting. It was holding a shape. A human shape. The forgotten part of her brain that was usually obsolete stirred, raising the small hairs on the back of her neck. Alertness replaced her grogginess instantaneously. 

Alexis had grown up in a house with plenty of paranormal occurrences which made it a little more difficult to frighten her. However, it had been years since her last encounter with something she couldn’t initially explain. The primal instinct of fear came rushing back in full force. This figure caught her completely off guard. It seemed to turn to face her. Her hair was already on end, but now it felt like it was trying to pull itself out of her skin. The fear was an oppressive weight that held her frozen in place while every aspect of her was screaming Run!

There were empty holes on the figure where eyes would be in a normal face. She could see the wood paneling of her walls through these holes. Though the holes were empty, they bored deeply in to her. Suddenly, it dropped like a sheet and the blackness started to fade out. Alexis’s momentary paralysis disappeared and she took a few shaky steps forward, testing the waters. She was beginning to question her sanity, wondering if she actually did see anything or if she was jumping at shadows. The feeling of someone being near her hadn’t left yet, so she made sure to gently step over the creaky parts of the floor in the fear that she would somehow anger the shadow.

The closer she got to her room, the less the blackness seemed real. She couldn’t see anything now that she was in the area it had been. The floor felt cold beneath her bare toes. The tension in her shoulders started to relax and her sleepiness started to seep back in over the adrenaline. As she reached for her doorknob, the darkness abruptly returned and the figure loomed over her, much taller than it had seemed before. The air around her was so tight that she couldn’t even scream. Her paralysis was back and all she could do was stare at this... thing. Her body was reacting, forcing adrenaline through her veins until she could hear the thumping of her heart in her chest. Her muscles were once again so tense that they were trembling, but she stood firm. The fear was threatening to take over and make her panic. The being leaned in close to her face, smelling strongly of rotten eggs. Her knees started to wobble and give out. Her chest refused to let her draw a breath. Her skin was cold, yet sweaty. The hand on the doorknob was the main thing keeping her standing. A laugh like grinding glass emitted from the being’s pitch-black face. Then, once again it was gone. Alexis sunk to the ground, still holding the doorknob. She leaned her head against the door frame and started to cry.

\- 

Another restless nap left Alexis feeling more drained than she had been in years. Her dreams were once again filled with the apocalypse, this time with demons clawing at her while she was left completely alone to run from their clutches. In the dream right before waking, she could see the back of her Cardinal who had no idea she was there. He was in his black cassock and biretta, looking down upon a plague-stricken town as if he had ushered in the disease himself. Rats circled his feet, one on his right shoulder looking at the carnage with him. She was running to him, trying to scream his name but finding her voice scratchy and inaudible. Her hand reached up to touch his shoulder. Rescue was within her grasp. She would soon be enveloped in the safety of her Cardinal’s embrace. As her fingers grazed the cassock, a black clawed hand grabbed her around the waist and yanked her backwards in to a growing group of corpses infested with flies. Their rotting flesh gave way under her weight. She screamed silently and was gagged by the coagulating fluids seeping from the corpses. She was pulled ever deeper, watching the image of her Cardinal become obscured by the pile of viscous sludge that she was in. Waking in a sweat, the nightmare remained in her mind instead of fading out of her memory like they normally did. There were no comforting arms to turn to; only an empty bed and a foul taste tugging at the back of her throat. Her stomach twisted and churned.

Alexis barely made it to her toilet before her stomach heaved its contents out violently. Even after emptying, the foul taste she had woken with kept her dry-heaving for a while. Trembling and weak, she brushed her teeth and hobbled back to her bed in the hopes of sleeping the day through. 

She steadied her breath and looked down at her sheets, realizing that in her puffy-eyed state she’d fallen asleep on a note from her love. The seal on it had even left an imprint on her arm from sleeping on it so hard. Alexis ripped it open and read the short note. Her beloved had tried to come home to see her before he had to leave for Sweden (as predicted), but Sister Imperator wouldn’t let him sneak away. She was paranoid that the topic of their secretive work would be told to Alexis and would escape to the public so she had instructed Ghouls to watch the Cardinal at all times. Alexis rolled her eyes upon reading this. She could see the frustration in how deeply the ink had been pressed in to the paper used for this note. The image of her husband furiously scribbling this message down in his office with a few strands of hair in his face made her long for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 12th, 2017.


	11. The Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comfort is provided in a few ways, and it is much needed.

Days passed that were as long as weeks. Alexis couldn’t tell for sure in her depressive episode. Most of her time was spent in her bed staring at the endless scroll of her feeds on social media. None of it mattered, nothing made her smile. Dante had tried checking on her through several missed calls and voicemails. The afternoon after their night together she had sent a short text thanking him for taking care of her and she hadn’t replied since. She had asked her silent Ghoul friend to be responsible for answering the door and to let Dante know that she was unavailable no matter when he stopped by. She felt awful for shunning him, but even worse for giving in to him.

In one of her social media stupors, a soft knock on the door made her jump hard enough to drop her phone. The strange experiences she’d been having made her feel constantly on edge. She never knew if the blackness would come back to envelop her or if her frequent waking nightmares would become reality. It didn’t help that her stomach was constantly upset, made worse by any strong scent that she came in contact with.

“Yes?” The door opened and a familiar platinum mask peeked around the door. He cleared his throat and Alexis stood up from her bed. She was feeling sloppy so she was just in yoga pants and a tank top, not bothering with the restraint of a bra. She could feel one breast hanging partially out of one armhole of the tank top and didn’t care. Her hair was a mess, piled atop her head in a sloppy bun. Most of her hair wasn’t long enough to stay in the hair tie. Essentially, she was a hot mess. The Ghoul’s blue eyes flicked to her chest before he spoke to her for the first time.

“Papa Emeritus II is here and is, erm, pretty persistent to see you.” His voice, although nervous at this moment, was like music to her ears. Alexis hadn’t heard anyone speak to her in person since she had seen Dante last. This Ghoul had a beautiful British accent that made Alexis suddenly care that her tit was about to pop completely out of her shirt. She tried to inconspicuously fix this problem as the Ghoul made a point to look anywhere but her.

“Okay, umm, I guess tell him I’ll be down in a minute. He can wait for me in the sitting room.” The Ghoul nodded and did as he was asked.

Alexis cleaned herself up a little bit and at least put deodorant on. She added a bra and fixed her hair before heading downstairs. Papa Emeritus II was standing and looking around the sitting room as if he hadn’t spent many nights there drinking with his best friend. He was in a black suit with a white undershirt and black vest. His tie was white, accenting his white iris. He turned as Alexis entered. They looked at each other silently for a few moments. Neither seemed to know what to say.

“I’ve been concerned about you, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Dante’s frown was impressive. “I apologize if I’ve overstepped any boundaries, but I was informed that there no longer needed to be any.” There was more silence while Alexis stared at her feet, picking at her nails.

“I don’t know, it just didn’t feel right.” Alexis looked back up in to Papa’s face. “My husband made it clear that it’s okay, but I don’t know. I mean, I did want it and a part of me even still does. It’s just new. And God, Dante, I miss him so much.” Her voice wavered at the end of her sentence. The tears that had been hidden away in the deepest parts of her threatened to escape.

Papa II moved forward and held his arms out to her. Alexis deliberated for a second before accepting his comforting gesture. His arms wrapped around her, enfolding her firmly. He kissed her temple once her arms were around his waist. She leaned her head on him and let out all of the tears she had. They started as silent streams and reached a pinnacle in the pit of Dante’s neck by his shoulder. Her sobs were met with soft shhhhhs. He was running one hand through her hair while his head rested on hers. Feeling so much comfort from him helped a bit, but they made her miss her husband even more. She only wanted Cardinal Copia to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. This thought made her cry harder. Time doesn’t seem to matter or even exist when one is crying over heartaches. Eons later, Alexis and Dante separated.

“Shit. I ruined your jacket.” Dante’s shoulder was tear-stained in the shape of her eyes. He looked at it and gave a half smile.

“It is replaceable. You are not.” He rubbed her back with one hand as she wiped her face off. She nodded and gave an awkward laugh.

“I’m sorry. I’m a mess.”

“That is why I am here.”

They sat together and talked for a while, Alexis easing up in to her usual self for a little while. Papa Emeritus II even got a laugh or two out of her. The smiles felt foreign on her cheeks since she hadn’t done so in days. After an hour or so, Dante seemed partially satisfied with Alexis’s attempt at cheeriness. He checked his watch and sighed.

“I have a flight to catch. I’m expected back in Linköping with my brothers. I suppose Sister Imperator has some news for us all. I came to say goodbye, which is why your Ghoul had to be, ah, convinced to allow my entry.” Dante smirked, his evilly dominant side peeking through. “I have to say that I will miss you, and that although our time together may have caused you some conflict, I am glad that we indulged in our desires.”

“In all honesty, so am I. It’ll take me some time to be okay with it, but I will admit that I had wanted it for years.” They both stood. Dante took Alexis’s hand and kissed it. Alexis pretended to scoff in offense. “What was that?” She pulled him in for a kiss by his tie. His eyebrows raised in surprise, something that was not easy to make him do. He returned her kiss with enthusiasm, cradling her head with one hand. It was a sensual kiss, but to Alexis it felt like a friendly (very friendly) symbol of appreciation as well as a nice send-off.

“Adieu, Alexis.” Papa Emeritus II let her go with a smile.

“Goodbye for now, Papa.” Alexis winked. She never called him that; it sounded too dirty to her. At this moment it felt appropriate to let him leave with a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 16th, 2017.


	12. The Text

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexis and her quiet friend become slightly better acquainted while she receives a much-anticipated message.

Finally, it came. A text message from her dearest Cardinal; a promise to call the following night at eight o’clock. The message was short and rushed, but it was there. Alexis clutched her phone to her chest, eyes closed and smiling. Her heart inflated to at least three times its normal size when she had seen her phone light up with a message from her husband.

It had now been almost three weeks since she had seen him. It had been five days since he had been in Linköping, and therefore five days without a handwritten note from him to wake up to. She had had nothing at all once the notes stopped. Papa Emeritus II had been in Linköping for a day or two as well. Alexis wondered if he had told her husband that she wasn’t doing too well emotionally, prompting the text message. This thought dampened her elated spirits minutely. She hoped with all her heart that if Papa II did tell Cardinal Copia that she wasn’t happy, he at least had the sense not to say why. There was no intent to keep her activities with Dante a secret, but she wanted to be the one to tell her Cardinal nonetheless. This thought weighed on her, but the excitement and giddiness remained.

After sending a short yet sweet reply, Alexis got up and got ready for the day like she did before her Cardinal left. She took a long, steaming shower with music echoing through the bathroom. She danced her way through putting her makeup on and doing her hair. Her closet was full of black dresses; however, today was a skinny jeans and t-shirt type day. There were not really any errands to run, but staying home didn’t always have to mean pajamas.

Winter had started and the air was cold. Alexis ventured out in to the garden in their backyard to get some fresh air. She had strapped on some boots and grabbed her long, black pea jacket. The ground crunched beneath her feet due to a thin sheet of ice from the morning dew. The trees were barren; dead branches were contrasted against the sky like dark lightning. There was a single weeping willow that was reduced to a bundle of wispy branches brushing the ground. Wandering through the dead bushes and empty plots that held vegetables in the summer, she had the feeling of eyes upon her. Lately her house had understandably been giving her the creeps. The current sensation didn’t feel quite like her imagination, though, so she turned to look back at the house. A silver mask was visible behind some sheer curtains in a sitting room window. Alexis waved. The mask disappeared only to reappear at the back door a moment later. She came back to the house to greet her new Ghoul friend.

“It’s pretty cold, isn’t it?” He didn’t reply, he only nodded and looked up at the grey sky. “C’mon, I want some hot chocolate.” 

Alexis didn’t always care much for sweet drinks, but she had an immense craving for chocolate all day. Hot cocoa seemed like the perfect way to sate the craving as well as to spend time with this Ghoul. The Ghoul seemed surprised that she wanted to be the one to make the cocoa and that she wasn’t covertly asking him to do it. Even more surprise followed when she handed him his own steaming mug. They sat at the kitchenette table together in their standard silence. Alexis was more and more curious about this Ghoul as they spent more time together without talking. She still had only heard him the once.

“How long have you been with The Clergy?” She asked and sipped her cocoa. The Nameless Ghoul had yet to touch his. He only swirled it in the mug from time to time.

“Not long.” That lovely accent was muffled a little by the mask. Then, it hit Alexis why he wasn’t drinking his cocoa. The masks left the mouths uncovered, but it must still be difficult to drink from a wide brimmed cup like a mug.

“You can take that off if you want, I won’t tell.” Alexis motioned toward the Ghoul’s mask. His eyes moved up from his swirling mug quickly, looking to be quite taken aback. He shook his head slowly once to each side. “I know you aren’t supposed to, but there isn’t anyone here to scold you for it. I definitely won’t.”

The Ghoul looked in to her eyes as if he were trying to read her thoughts; debating whether she was able to be trusted. She did not look away. After much internal deliberation, he leaned back in to his chair and let out a slow breath. His hand raised to his mask and stopped. She smiled and sipped her cocoa innocently, her eyes still locked on his. Excitement bubbled up from her stomach at the thought of finally getting to see her (mostly) silent companion.

The mask slid up and backwards over the Ghoul’s head. He set it carefully on the kitchenette table with a soft clunk. He pulled down the partial black cloth mask that was worn under the platinum Ghoul masks. His hair poofed out in a dark, wavy mane. Wavy hair tends to be somewhat coarse, but this Ghoul’s hair looked like silk shining in the natural light from the windows. He used one hand to ruffle it, trying to erase the partially flattened look that the mask gave it. He had a masculine facial structure with thick eyebrows and lips that curled up at the corners naturally. The Ghoul raised his eyebrows and gave a flat smile, looking down again.

“It’ll probably be easier to drink your cocoa now.” Alexis unsuccessfully tried to sound natural while her eyes drank in every detail of his face. It was always a funny thing seeing someone for the first time when you’ve only heard them speak. The mind has a way of conjuring up a mental image of what face might match the voice. The face across from hers was much more visually appealing than the one that had been in her mind’s eye.

“Thank you.” The Nameless Ghoul took a swig.

“Don’t mention it.” Should I ask more about him? Was taking the mask off enough for one day? Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. “So... Do you have a name?”

“Ben.”

“Ben.” She repeated. A smile touched the corner of his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 17th, 2017.


	13. The Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kind comments and the kudos! It keeps me excited to write and to post new chapters when I can. This story has turned out much longer than expected, so I hope you all enjoy the ride to the end.
> 
> I want to take the time to thank [ Lulu ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyLulu) and [ Karo ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourpatchkaro) for the constant support and feedback!

Minutes ticked by achingly slowly while Alexis waited for eight o’clock to arrive. She would finally hear from her Cardinal tonight! Her heart was racing, her feet pacing back and forth through her bedroom. Unlocking her phone constantly to make sure she wouldn’t miss the ring, Alexis stared at the home screen with its lack of notifications. Clicking anything might make her accidentally decline a call, so her thumb hovered across the screen, resisting the urge to open social media for mindless time-passing.

At 7:59pm her phone erupted in to the beginning of Ghost’s Spirit. Before the theremin could get through even three notes, she answered.

“Hello, my love.” Cardinal Copia’s voice brought a wave of goosebumps across her whole body. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.” Her breath hitched while she tried not to cry. Joy at hearing his voice mixed oddly with the deep ache in her very soul for his company.

“It is so good to hear your voice.” His own voice sounded like he was winding down from a long day of stress. She had heard this in his voice many times over the years. He failed to hide a sigh by holding the phone further from his mouth for a moment. She could envision him running a hand back through his hair with his eyes shut.

“Are you holding up alright out there?”

“I have a lot to tell you when I get home, but now is not the time. For now, I can say that Dante is here and it has been wonderful catching up with him.” Alexis’s gut lurched as she wondered if Dante had spilled the beans yet or not. It didn’t sound like it from her Cardinal’s voice. “Gustav and Joseph are here, as well. They have not had much to do, though. Whatever it is that Sister Imperator has in mind for their retirement may not be entirely... pleasant. She has been too kind to them.” Alexis was not surprised at all.

“Hopefully nothing too extreme... Have you talked to the Grand Master yet?”

“I have yet to meet Papa Nihil. I believe that will happen tomorrow evening.”

“Good! It’s about time he meets his hardest worker.” Alexis knew what a big honor this was. Her Cardinal had been doing his bidding for a few years, serving as the righthand man. He even had the second-most Employee of the Month awards; however, he had yet to be granted the privilege of meeting the oldest living member of the Emeritus bloodline. “How are the Emeritus brothers all doing?”

“There’s been a lot of card games going on for them to pass the time. Dante mentioned that he’d spent some time with you in my absence.” Cardinal Copia’s voice was conversational. Alexis couldn’t bring herself to speak just yet. “I am pleased to hear that you were able to see him while he was in Asheville. He has always seemed to care a lot for you.”

“Uh, yeah.” That didn’t sound awkward at all, Alexis thought. “I... want to tell you something.”

“There’s no need, my love.” There was not a single hint of anger, jealousy, or anything less than pleasant in his voice. “Dante didn’t have to say anything either. Some things a man just knows. As we had discussed, I want nothing but your happiness. Here I am being overly-socialized and exhausted by interactions with others while you are stuck in Asheville with mostly yourself to keep you company. It is lonely, I am sure.”

“Yes, but –”

“No ‘but’s, dearest. I am in no way upset. Please try not to feel upset, either, alright?”

“I’ll try, but –” He shushed her gently. Being shushed generally didn’t go over well with Alexis, but her Cardinal had a way of making it calming rather than aggravating. She sat down on her bed, finally done with her anxious pacing. 

“There is no one I would trust more with you than Dante. The only person I trust more in this world is you.” Alexis smiled at this and the burden of guilt started its long ascent up and out of its deep resting place in her gut.

“It’s just weird for me, I guess.” Alexis fidgeted with the edge of her bedspread.

“I know, my love.” The Cardinal sighed and Alexis could hear the whoomp of him flopping on to a bed. It was about 2am there.

“Are you tired?” Alexis knew the phone call wouldn’t last too long, but the thought of it ending still made her feel lonely again.

“I am always tired out here.” The Cardinal’s voice held the weight of his words. “But, my love, tell me about how things are there. How have you been passing the time? Is the house burned to the ground?”

“Hmm, I haven’t quite gotten to that point yet, but no promises before you get back.” Her Cardinal let out a low, sleepy chuckle. She missed hearing that laugh next to her in their bed when they would stay awake chatting in the dark together, “trying” to sleep. “I sort of made a Ghoul friend I guess. He doesn’t talk much.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he’s nice though. He mainly just hangs out because I ask him to, I guess, but it’s better than being alone.” Alexis knew that wasn’t true. Her Ghoul friend had made a point of conveniently being around more after their first encounter.

“Would you like me to have some more... conversational Ghouls come to work at the house as well?” He tried to make this joking comment through a yawn. Alexis could almost feel his exhaustion coming through the phone line.

“No, it’s okay.” She paused. “You should probably get some rest.”

“No, no. It’s quite alright; I want to hear more about you, my love.” His voice was genuine, but becoming quieter. She considered telling him about the odd happenings around the house since his departure, but she couldn’t. Her nightmares were getting more vivid and she had to run for the bathroom nearly every morning. But he didn’t need to know that until he got home and could help her feel less crazy. There in Linköping there was nothing he could do but worry. It sounded like he had enough of that on his plate as it was.

“There’s nothing to tell, really.” She hoped the lie went by undetected in his half-asleep state. “You need some rest, sleepyhead. Is there any chance I’ll be able to score another phone call soon?”

“Of course. I’ve finally convinced Sister Imperator to allow me to call you, provided I make the time myself when she isn’t running me ragged.”

“Alright, good. Maybe we can try to FaceTime soon?”

“Of course, dear.” It was possible he was already drifting off to sleep.

“I’m so, so happy I can hear your voice.”

“Mmm, me too.” He was definitely drifting off.

“Goodnight, my dearest Cardinal. Please sleep well. Call me tomorrow if you can.”

“Mmmhm... love you...”

“I love you, too.” She hung up, knowing that he was already asleep and that it was time for her to follow suit. If her heartache would allow for that anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 18th, 2017.


	14. The Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexis can no longer remain in denial.

The mirror reflected a distorted truth at the best of times. Standing in front of it now, what Alexis felt “the truth” was must be very distorted. There was no way that she had gained so much weight around her middle when she could barely bring herself to eat. She could hardly keep food down during the times that she did eat. This morning was one of the rare mornings that she was starving rather than nauseated. Her dreams the previous night were, for once, not horrifying and did not leave her with a rancid taste in her mouth. This left room for an appetite, which this morning was calling for a huge omelet. Weirdly enough, she thought that some fresh berries may be amazing in one.

Giving one last, hard stare at her engorged midsection, Alexis made her way downstairs to the kitchen. The smell of coffee tickled her nostrils the moment she opened her bedroom door. Her sense of smell had been exceptionally strong recently. The aroma of toasted coffee beans brewing seemed to have physical tendrils pulling her along by her nose as if she were in a cartoon. Her stomach grumbled at the distance between her and the French vanilla roast, ushering her along more quickly.

Her quiet Ghoul friend, Ben, was leaning against the counter by the coffee pot with his arms folded across his sizable chest. He had been looking down at his feet until he heard Alexis come in. He looked up and she could see his eyes squint a little bit; the effects of a smile hidden by a Nameless Ghoul mask. He turned and grabbed a mug that was already on the counter, filled with black coffee, and held it out to her. It was her favorite; a plain, grey mug with an ornate handle.

“Thank you.” Alexis inhaled the coffee’s steam with her eyes closed and took a sip. The Ghoul had somehow known that although her coffee looked black, she always had sugar hidden away in its depths. He had prepared it for her perfectly without ever having asked her about it. She didn’t think much of it; he seemed to know a lot of weirdly intimate things about her without being told. It was unsettling at first, but Alexis had grown used to this type of thing from anyone employed by The Clergy.

At the first audible rumble of her stomach, the Ghoul had sprung in to action. He was at the refrigerator pulling out bread, butter, eggs, cheese, and reaching for more when Alexis stopped him.

“Ben, it’s okay!” There was a hint of a laugh in her voice. “I can make something for myself. You, too, if you want.”

He turned, still bent halfway over to dig through a drawer inside the fridge. “You sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure.” Alexis held her mug in both hands while she watched him back out of the fridge and straighten the bottom of his shirt. He held one arm out to the fridge, inviting her to do it herself if she so pleased. She set the mug down and accepted the invitation. He didn’t back up when she was digging around for ingredients. The heat from his body battled against the icy air from the fridge across her skin. The temperature had to be what her goosebumps were from. It had nothing to do with being so close to this handsome Ghoul, feeling the electricity between them. Nothing at all.

Although Alexis had said she’d make it herself, her quiet Ghoul helped her make a large breakfast. He didn’t ask when she needed something, nor did she say. They worked in a quiet harmony around the kitchen while they cooked. There were no awkward “dances” of moving back and forth trying to get around each other at the same time. No hands hit each other unexpectedly. It was like working with one singular mind. When all was said and done, they set the kitchenette table and sat down to eat. The Ghoul tried to insist that he didn’t need to take her food or have her cook for him, but Alexis made it clear that she wanted his company over breakfast.

Once more, Alexis requested that he remove his mask. She told herself it was so that he could eat with her and not have to struggle through the mask’s mouthpiece. He didn’t have as much reluctance this time. His hair was asymmetrical as well as longer in the front. One curly bit was hanging in front of his right eye as he ate. Alexis’s stomach reminded her that her fork had yet to make it to her mouth while she sat and watched her Ghoul eat.

“Ben, can I ask you something?” He nodded, still chewing. “Do I look... different to you at all?”

He set his fork down and swallowed, eyeing her up and down. She could feel the points he was looking at as if his gaze itself was a fingertip tracing a line down her skin. It was a challenge to hold back a shiver.

“What do you mean?” He asked after what he saw as a quick once-over.

“I dunno, I just feel like I look different.” Alexis didn’t want to make him feel awkward. She certainly felt awkward trying to gauge if she had visibly gained weight from the opinion of a good-looking Ghoul. He looked more carefully this time, his blue eyes tracing along the edges of her face and moving along the lines of her body.

“You look like you’re glowing. I haven’t seen you look this radiant since Cardinal Copia left.” Alexis was not expecting that answer. She cocked her head. He was calmly looking back at her.

“Oh. Well, thank you.” The mirror may have been reflecting her own insecurities, then, she thought. The two finished their breakfast over some small talk and they cleaned the kitchen as synchronously as they had dirtied it.

\- 

“Oh, fuck.” Alexis said quietly to herself and let her book drop in to her lap. Her brain had clicked with the most terrifying thought that she’d had in years. She was reading a book while her subconscious brain worked out a puzzle that she was in denial about. Her heightened sense of smell that induced nausea, her unusual cravings for sweetness, her vivid dreams, and Ben’s comment about her overall aura all led to one hell of a conclusion. Add in the fact that her breasts had been inexplicably tender for the past few days, and there was no longer any denying that a trip to the doctor was in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 19th, 2017.


	15. The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to The Clergy's medical facility brings some interesting news.

Members of The Clergy were treated to their own free healthcare that was private and in-house. In fact, it was a requirement that no one in The Clergy seek medical attention from services outside of their control. They had recruited Nameless Ghouls from the top hospitals and health facilities in the world. Alexis still felt weird about being so far off the grid of the outside world. It was unnerving divulging your medical vulnerabilities and worries to someone when you knew that Sister Imperator could probably look in to your file at any time. It was one of the very few sacrifices Alexis had to make when choosing to spend eternity with Cardinal Copia, and she most certainly saw it as worth it at the time.

Ben had escorted her to the Clergy clinic for comfort since he was all she had in this time of need. He didn’t ask what this was about, nor did he make her feel like he would. The clinic looked like your average family practice, only there was never a single other person waiting. There were four standard chairs facing each other on the opposite end of the room from the reception window. The odd duo barely entered the building when a Sister of Sin came to greet Alexis. She instructed Ben to wait in one of the stiff looking chairs while she led Alexis through a door. The office was eerily quiet, there were no patients in any of the other two observation rooms.

The Sister took Alexis’s vitals and asked the standard intake questions. The room didn’t quite feel as sterile as most doctor’s offices and there were no medical charts on the walls. There were no decorations at all. Paper that was draped across the examining table for sanitation crinkled with the tiniest of movements. When the Sister left Alexis alone to go get the doctor, Alexis was left in the quiet to twiddle her thumbs. There was a strict “no phones” policy in all of The Clergy’s professional locations.

The wait in these offices never lasted long. Alexis didn’t have enough time to get bored before the door was opened with a creak and a Nameless Ghoulette came in. It was relieving to have a female doctor for this situation. They spoke about her concerns. The Ghoulette had Alexis go to the restroom and leave a urine sample for The Test. The Big Scary Test. The world felt surreal and the three minutes it took for the analysis went by too quickly, yet not quickly enough.

Positive.

The Ghoulette’s next words were a soundless drone after that one life-changing result.

“Sorry, what?” Alexis heard herself ask. She mentally shook herself and tried to focus on the present moment. Thoughts of the future were digging in to her, making her mind reel. Some of her nightmares popped up to taunt her. Why would she ever be stupid enough to bring another living being in to a world on the brink of annihilation?

“I was saying that we need to inform The Cardinal soon, but no one here will force you to. For now, we need to focus on the next steps and go over the options for you.” The Ghoulette was sitting with her legs crossed at the knee, her hands folded in her lap. “Have you been making sure to eat properly?”

Details about her eating habits, sleeping habits, so on and so forth, were being drug out of Alexis in her stupor. The doctor was making her promise to treat this as a wanted pregnancy unless The Cardinal gave them permission to treat this otherwise. It didn’t feel like Alexis had much say in what happened with her own body; she expected no less from a place run by Sister Imperator’s indirect rule. A list of guidelines for proper care were gone over in detail, although Alexis barely heard a word of it. The Nameless Ghoulette noticed this and provided the instructions in a printed packet. How handy, was all Alexis could manage to think as she took the packet.

Finally, freedom. Ben stood the moment he saw Alexis, and she could see the concern in his eyes under that platinum mask. Once they were in the car and it was turned on to warm up, Alexis couldn’t take it anymore. She looked at Ben with her lip quivering.

“Wha-?” One word couldn’t even come out of his mouth before she clung to him and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 20th, 2017.


	16. The Chat

On-screen communication was one of the most amazing inventions of the 20th century. The Cardinal seemed to be in the room with Alexis as they opened their video call. As the room faded away, her Cardinal became the only thing in the world. The big, goofy smile that Alexis had must have been contagious. The Cardinal returned it, his face clear of his black paint.

“Hello, my love.” The Cardinal’s voice was always so entrancing to Alexis. She sighed and gave him a look of pure adoration. Without his paint he looked older somehow, but he was one of those men that aged fantastically; like his partial doppelgänger, Vincent Price. Tonight, though, he looked more tired and worn than usual.

“I miss you.”

“As do I. There is some good news for tonight.” The Cardinal watched Alexis tilt her head with curiosity. “I’ll be boarding a flight home in a few hours.”

Alexis squealed; which was not something she had done often in her life. Tears that she didn’t even know were coming slid down her cheeks in slow succession. The Cardinal chuckled and she could see that his perfect, mismatched eyes were a little misty as well.

“Oh my god I can’t wait to see you!” Alexis was so loud that The Cardinal’s speakers rattled on his laptop. This brought his chuckle up to a laugh and he waited for her to calm down a little bit before continuing. 

“Coming home will be the best feeling in the world for me, my dearest. Giving you some news that I have will be even better. It is best given in person, though, so you are simply going to have to wait.”

Rather than the teased and curious reaction that the Cardinal expected, Alexis’s smile faltered and she stopped bouncing in her seat. She had remembered that she had news of her own to give him. There was no telling what his reaction would be. They had discussed many times that they did not necessarily want children, but they would deal with any accidents if they came up. Alexis was on birth control, so she had no idea how it could have possibly happened in the first place. The birth control was the best recommended by The Clergy; an injection of hormones every month.

“What is it? Are you alright?” The Cardinal always worried greatly about Alexis’s well-being. They were each other’s everything. He was leaning forward in his chair, eyes scanning her face as best as he could through the given means of communication.

“Let’s just leave it at you having some news when you get here, as well.” Alexis forced a feeble smile and made eye contact with the electronic replica of the love of her life. “I’m okay. Well, as okay as I can be considering...”

“There is nothing in the world that you should feel that you cannot tell me. I am here for you through everything. Always.”

“I’ll tell you, love, don’t worry.”

The remainder of the conversation was an array of reassurances and safe travel wishes. Alexis missed her husband so much that her heart felt like it would shatter on the spot. Her emotional range was at an all-time high and fluctuated often, due to the circumstances, and during this conversation they were unbearable. The call could not end quickly enough for her. When it did, she shut her laptop and crawled in to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 21st, 2017.


	17. The Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night terror brings comfort from a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter; more lengthy ones to come, I promise.

Floating up from sleep, Alexis felt her body being shaken and heard her name coming in to focus slowly as it was repeated to her.

“...alexis... Alexis... Alexis!” More shaking as her bleary eyes finally snapped open. Her heart was pounding and she didn’t know why. Her body was covered in sweat, but she was freezing cold. Ben was shaking her awake. He was not in his Nameless Ghoul outfit. He was in a very form-fitting white tank top and flannel pajama pants.

“What? What is it?” Alexis asked in a panic. She sat up, clutching her comforter to her chest. This, of course, was one of those nights that she slept only in a pair of panties. She held the comforter even tighter across her chest as she gradually came in to more definable thought processes.

“You were screaming in your sleep. When I came in, I...” Ben trailed off. No memories of a nightmare came to her at all; she strained to recall anything that could have been the cause of her screams. Ben’s face was drained of color and he seemed more than worried. He seemed terrified.

“What? Ben, tell me!”

“I don’t know if it was just the dark, but... I don’t know. I don’t know.” He was staring down at the bed as if he wasn’t seeing the room at all. His mouth hung open, at a loss for words. Alexis put her hand on his and he looked up in her concerned eyes. He took three deep breaths, his pecs stretching his tank top to an almost bursting point. “There was something sitting on your chest. It looked as if, er, as if it were trying to strangle you.”

Alexis sat rigid, stiff and pale. Her blood had turned to ice throughout her body. She could feel it cooling her limbs as it coursed through her veins. Was it the shadow she had been seeing? If so, then she definitely wasn’t just crazy if Ben saw it, too. The possibility of the dark shadow being actually real was a partial relief as far as sanity went, but it was certainly no comfort.

“I ran in and must’ve scared it off, I-I don’t know.” This sentence came out in a strained staccato. Ben’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. He tried to say more and eventually gave up, staring at the floor without really seeing what was in front of him.

There was silence for an indiscernible amount of time; neither knew what to say. They sat in the quiet, the dark air oppressive and heavy. Alexis leaned to turn on her bedside lamp and felt her comforter slip a little off the side of her chest. When she looked back at Ben she saw that he couldn’t help but stare; momentarily distracted from the unpleasant situation at hand. For some reason, Alexis didn’t mind at all.

“Thank you, Ben.” His eyes snapped up to hers and a faint blush tickled his cheeks. “I don’t know what would’ve happened if you didn’t come.”

“I, er, yeah, I mean... what else am I supposed to do when I hear you screaming?” He half shrugged. “And The Cardinal-” He stopped himself quickly.

“What about The Cardinal?” Alexis didn’t like feeling like there were secrets kept from her. Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion. Ben shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact. “Ben?”

“Nothing, I should... I should go back to bed.” The Nameless Ghouls who worked solely in the household had their own rooms in a hidden quarter downstairs. The old mansion had back passageways that servants used back in the Victorian era. These narrow, hidden passageways included servant’s quarters.

“Please stay.” Alexis found the words come out quietly without her thinking about them beforehand. Her hand once again found his and squeezed it. “Please.” She couldn’t stand the thought of the darkness coming back to her. Being alone seemed as though whatever was haunting her would be far too tempted.

Her quiet Ghoul companion looked at their hands for a while before accepting. He used the master bathroom to allow her time to put on some clothes to sleep in. She held up a negligee and decided against it; too suggestive. She put on some of the Cardinal’s pajama bottoms and a loose t-shirt instead. When Ben came back in she was already under the covers. He awkwardly sat on top of the comforter, unsure what to do with himself. This was his boss’s bed. And his boss’s wife. He decided on laying down over the covers next to her with plenty of space in between them. Alexis didn’t want to make him even less comfortable, so she said nothing about it and turned off the lamp.

“Thank you.” She said softly in the dark.

\- 

By the time Alexis woke the next morning, there was only an empty indentation where her sweet Ghoul friend had lain while she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 21st, 2017.


	18. The Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cardinal returns home from a grueling business trip. His devoted wife eagerly awaited his return and can't wait to show him how much she's missed him.

It was late in the afternoon when Alexis finally heard the front door open. She was dressed in her favorite dress; a very flattering sheath dress with a silver zipper on the front that went the entire way from the bottom to the top. She ran from the sitting room to the front hall where her dearest Cardinal was coming in the front door. He had two Nameless Ghouls loaded with his luggage, keeping his arms free. He was in his red cassock and biretta, looking especially dapper. The Cardinal held his arms wide when he saw her, a broad smile lighting up his face. Alexis jumped in to his arms, legs wrapping around him as she covered his face in kisses.

“Hello to you, my sweetest.” The Cardinal was laughing and holding her as tightly as he could manage. Alexis returned this greeting with an unyielding kiss planted on to his mouth. Electric waves ran down through her extremities. Love filled her chest past the point of endurability. She couldn’t remember the last time that she felt this much happiness thundering through every sense of her being.

By the time they finally let go of each other, the Nameless Ghouls had disappeared with the luggage and it was just the two of them in the entryway. They both had a lot of catching up to do, but there was a lot of physical catching up to do, too. Alexis’s hormones were starting to affect her while she finally had the closeness she craved with her Cardinal. She could feel that he was thinking the same thing. He set her down but didn’t let go of her. Alexis had almost forgotten how just the smell of her husband could send her in to a frenzy. She kissed him again. And again, and again. When they were finally able to pull themselves apart for a moment, his cassock had a clear protrusion from his excitement.

“Race you!” Alexis suddenly said, breaking the embrace and running towards the stairs. 

Despite her head start, the Cardinal was not far behind, chasing her like an animal hunts its prey. He was grabbing at her waist, trying to tickle her when he’d catch up; making her giggle and run faster. Once they made it to the bedroom, The Cardinal picked Alexis up and tossed her on the bed with an overexaggerated growl. As she was lying there waiting to be pounced on by her Cardinal, she toyed with the top of the zipper on her dress. There was not one bit of clothing underneath it.

The cassock took a while to disassemble, so Alexis patiently waited for her Cardinal. It wasn’t often that he was awkward, but this was one of the times where Alexis had to stifle laughter at just how awkward he could be, fumbling around the various buttons and catches that made up his attire. Austin Powers kept coming to mind for her, making the laughter harder to hold back. When he was finally stripped down to his undershirt and black pants, he crawled on to the bed, looming over her.

His usual rebellious strand of hair fell over his ghostly eye as he looked down, drinking in the details of her face. Alexis reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. Near the end of her stroke, he dove in for a kiss. Their tongues reacquainted themselves gently to start. It wasn’t long before his hips were grinding her down in to the bed and their kisses became sloppy. She had missed how his mustache tickled her upper lip. He readjusted from straddling her to having his legs in between hers; nudging her thighs apart. This pushed her dress up to her hips. She could feel his hardness pressing against her bare opening. She started trembling with how badly she needed to feel him inside of her.

She started to unzip her dress but only made it down to her stomach before she realized her Cardinal was already pulling himself out of his skintight pants. Her Cardinal was also shaking with need. Floundering a bit at his pant line, he moved the pants down just enough to be exposed. He had no trouble finding his way in to her. Since it had been a little while since Alexis had had any sexual interaction, The Cardinal felt much bigger than usual. He filled her up completely, and then some. Her gasp when he slid in made him pause with concern for a moment until she pulled him in further with her legs. There was always so much concern for her comfort.

Ecstasy poured over them, washing away all of their thoughts and worries. The only thing that remained was the two of them reconnecting.

Sweat soaked The Cardinal’s thin, black t-shirt. His thrusts were enthusiastic, to say the least. Alexis could hardly handle how deep it seemed her Cardinal was. Her lower stomach almost hurt from the roughness, yet she liked the shocks it sent through her with each thrust. Her hands found their way up the back of his shirt and she raked her nails down again across his back. This brought out one of those hissing breaths through his teeth that she loved so much. That one, simple noise threw her in to a climax that she wasn’t prepared for. Her nails were midway down The Cardinal’s back. They dug in deeply as she came beneath him. Blood was drawn out from her nails, making The Cardinal throw his head back. Pain made his body try to stop moving, but he pushed past it, drawing out the orgasm for Alexis and bringing one on for himself. He spilled his seed deeply inside of her and slowed to a stop to give his wife a soft, sweaty kiss.

“I love you,” he sighed in to her mouth between gasps.

“I’ve missed you more than I can say.” Alexis pulled him down to her, burying her face in the nape of his neck. She could feel him softening within her, but the feeling of them remaining interlocked was comforting. They stayed that way for a while, until The Cardinal’s arms started to shake from holding himself above her for so long. He then rolled gently off of her and they almost immediately fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 22nd, 2017.


	19. The Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sister Imperator has been keeping more secrets than she has let on. A certain Nameless Ghoul is caught in the middle with where his loyalties lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be trying to post twice per week instead of once per week. I have written SO MUCH further ahead than I have made available. I'll speed it up so you all can see where this is going.
> 
> Your feedback keeps me going <3

Jetlag was an inescapable monster, preying upon those who dared to cross time zones. Even someone as in control of themselves as Cardinal Copia was could not escape the time change’s wrath. He was deeply asleep, still in his clothes, and snoring loudly. His face was smashed against his hand on his pillow, and he looked almost childlike. His snores were sometimes interrupted by small mmms accompanied by eyebrow raises. Alexis wondered if he was listening to Sister Imperator barking instructions even in his sleep. She wouldn’t doubt it, after the trip that he’d had. 

Watching Cardinal Copia sleep was very entertaining, but Alexis was immediately restless once she woke. They still had so much to talk about. How was she to break the news to him that he was going to be a father? Even if she didn’t tell him, someone from The Clergy would soon enough. Besides, her body itself would probably betray her at the rate it was changing. It seemed like her belly was growing by the day. How long would she be able to make excuses for her morning sickness, anyway?

Heaving herself out of bed, Alexis changed in to some cozy pajamas and went downstairs. It was barely nine o’clock, and her hungry stomach was trying to eat itself alive. She hurried downstairs to the kitchen, ready to devour the first thing she saw.

Alexis generally didn’t mind leaving the lights off until she got to her destination. Darkness was somewhat exciting to walk through sometimes. Tonight, though, the foyer strangely wasn’t as dark as it should have been. The kitchen lights were on and soft voices were emanating from the glow. Creeping closer, she could only tell that it was one male and one female voice. It was probably just a Ghoul and Ghoulette talking about what to make for dinner, but something wasn’t quite sitting right with Alexis. Leaning in to the shadows, she got as close as she could without making her presence known.

“... can’t anymore. They don’t deserve this... this secrecy.” The male voice said. It had a familiar British accent.

“It isn’t up to you, Ghoul.” The female voice was low and dangerous. She emphasized the last word, turning it in to degradation. “You were given orders. Now follow them.” The sound of stiletto heels clicked away and a hinge creaked. Heels? Ghoulettes don’t wear heels like that, Alexis thought.

Peering around the archway leading in to the kitchen, Alexis recognized her favorite Nameless Ghoul leaning forward against the kitchen island with his head drooped down; hands planted firmly on the countertop. The small platinum horns of his mask were reflecting the overhead light, barely visible.

“Ben?” She asked softly as she reached out for his shoulder. He whipped around, startling her and immediately regretting it.

“Sorry, I –”

“Ben, who was in here?” He fell silent and wouldn’t look Alexis in the eye. “Ben?”

He turned his upper body slightly away. Alexis gently took his chin in her hand and turned his face to look at her. He was taller than her by a few inches, so she had to peer upwards to meet his demurring gaze. Without the social cues from facial expressions, her Nameless Ghoul was able to hide a small amount of emotion. The eyes hold the most information, though. These oceanic blue eyes lined with dark, thick eyelashes held more information than Alexis had expected. There was a small bit of pain hidden away in the depths, but the strongest visible emotion was very contradictory. The intensity of this eye contact felt like an entire conversation on its own. They stood with their eyes locked and her hand on his face until the eye contact became too enticing. Alexis let her hand fall away and she looked down for a moment.

“Who was in here?” She repeated her earlier question. It was amazing how easily she lost her train of questioning when she was trying to get information from him.

“Sister of Sin.” Ben was always a man of many words. He was looking down at his feet, apparently very interested in his shoes.

“A Sister of Sin?” Alexis was puzzled. Only Ghouls and Ghoulettes worked in the house. “Sister Imperator isn’t –?”

“Nahh, er, no.” Ben shook his head. “I mean, not technically.”

“Not technically?”

“Well, it’s sort of always like she’s around, innit?”

“It is.” Alexis pondered for a moment. “Does that Sister of Sin have something to do with that feeling?”

No answer.

“Ben?”

“Look, I can’t say a whole lot, aright? I don’t know what’ll happen if I say anything.” His arms flew up in an exasperated gesture. “There’s a lot of things that only us Ghouls know. The Sisters know even more and there’s no getting away from it once you’re ‘in.’ If I say anything to you, they’ll find out and I might not be able to be around anymore.” 

“Oh, I see. Well, I know she didn’t just waltz right out of the front door when I was standing between it and here.” Alexis looked around the kitchen as if the Sister of Sin would come out of hiding with her sinister plan foiled. Ben’s eyes flicked to an empty patch of wall between the refrigerator and the counters. Alexis didn’t think a whole of it for a second, but she remembered just how quickly Ben had come to her in her sleep the night before. The only visible doors that she knew of to the servant passages were nowhere near her bedroom. Unless...

“What’s behind the wall, Ben?” Was she lurking in the passageways that the Ghouls used?

“What?” He didn’t realize that his telling eyes had betrayed his inner thoughts again. Realization crested upon his expression and he moved forward to block Alexis’s path.

“Move, Ben. Now.”

“No, wait. C’mon, Alexis.” He stood firm, but his body language was all but begging her not to do what she wanted to do. She stepped closer and he did not step back. Alexis was looking determinedly up at his face, only inches apart. It was hard for her to ignore the fact that the air between them was heating up. Aching to close the distance between them, she instead stared up at him, willing him to move.

“Move.”

“I don’t want to have to stop you, Alexis. Please.” Ben placed his hands on her upper arms, ready to restrain her. Alexis felt fire boil up from her stomach and blind her with rage. No one dared hold her back when she was angry. Ever. She was about to twist her arms out of his grasp when she surprised the hell out of both of them; especially herself. Her right hand was moving with a mind of its own; it had ripped Ben’s mask from his head and threw it on the ground. It then grabbed the back of his head and yanked his face down to hers. The tips of their noses were pressed together, eyes locked. Alexis could feel the very edges of his lips grazing the edges of her own lips. His eyes were widened in shock as he stood awkwardly hunched down at her mercy.

“Move.”

“No.” That one simple word tickled Alexis’s lips and turned the fire in her stomach in to a different type of fire. Her rage dissipated almost as suddenly and easily as it had risen. Ben’s eyes had gone from widened in surprised to a deep, calming diversion. Alexis realized how dramatic she was being. She started to feel embarrassment at the ease in which her pregnancy hormones were making her behave. However, she was still angry that a Sister of Sin was in her home uninvited and unannounced.

Alexis’s fingers loosened their grip in his silky hair, her body following suit and slowly sinking in to relaxation. Ben was free to pull back, but did not. His nose remained pressed against hers. His arm moved gently from her upper arm to her waist. He brushed his nose back and forth ever so slightly, giving Alexis an Eskimo kiss as he closed his eyes. Her lips were sensitive to the air that came each time he breathed out. Heart fluttering, she closed her eyes as well, intending to move her lips forward by a few millimeters to meet his. They were so inviting.

“And what is going on in here, my love?” The Cardinal’s cool and collected voice made both Alexis and Ben jump. Ben stood straight up again, the entirety of his face was a deep maroon. Alexis glanced at Ben as her Cardinal approached the two of them. His demeanor showed no sign of anger, or any discomfort at all.

“There’s a Sister of Sin somewhere in our house,” Alexis said quickly. “I heard her talking to...” She paused, unsure if Cardinal Copia knew the names of the Ghouls. “I heard her talking to this Ghoul and I heard her leave the room.” 

The Cardinal, still in his poured-on black pants and his black t-shirt, walked over to the counter that Ben was standing by. Ben had grabbed his Nameless Ghoul mask, now cracked, and was looking rather tense. The Cardinal clapped Ben on the shoulder. “Ghoul.” Ben simply fiddled with his broken mask, unable to look Copia in the eye.

“There was a Sister of Sin here?” Cardinal Copia asked, looking between both Ben and Alexis.

“Yes.” Ben answered and looked up at his boss. “She left through the servant passage. There.”

The Cardinal looked to the blank space of wall that Ben had pointed to. He went over and pushed his hand on a square in the wooden panel framing. There was a click as a door half of the normal width opened seamlessly. 

The passages behind the walls of this Victorian mansion were expansive and dark. Even Cardinal Copia was surprised at how many there were, twisting and winding in endless mazes of stained oak. Ben was their reluctant guide through the tangle of passageways. Eventually, they all ended up in a room that seemed to be intended for relaxation. There were a few plush chairs around a square coffee table. There was a very large, and very old, radio in the corner with some disc jockey quietly rambling away. 

Two Sisters of Sin looked up calmly, as though they were expecting this odd trio to interrupt their conversation. Alexis immediately recognized one of them as a Sister of Sin who accompanied Sister Imperator on her visit. She wondered if this was how the sneaky bitch knew where everything in the kitchen was located when Sister Imperator was in their home. How long have they been snooping around my house? Alexis thought. She felt the familiar beginnings of fury tickling her stomach.

“Sisters.” Cardinal Copia bowed as if he were welcoming these intruders. Even in times of duress he was humble. “I do not recall hiring any Sisters of Sin to help in this house. What have we done to deserve such a gracious gift?” Alexis hoped that his faint touch of sarcasm did not go amiss.

“Oh, Cardinal, you have done nothing.” The speaker was the one who was with Sister Imperator. Her young face was heavily rouged in an unflattering way, but she managed to remain quite beautiful. “Sister Imperator has asked us to make sure that the Nameless Ghouls are performing their duties as expected by The Clergy’s standards.” She glared heavily at Ben as she said this. He had put his mask back on, but the crack was impossible to miss. A tinge of guilt plucked at Alexis’s heart.

“I see.” The Cardinal had his hands clasped behind his back. He looked down for a moment and rocked on his heels. “Will you be staying long for this... I guess you could say ‘audit’?”

The Sisters giggled. Alexis’s rage perked up again, making her want to break the beaky nose of the familiar Sister. Her hands clenched in to fists.

“We’ll see. It’s up to Sister Imperator, after all.” The two Sisters of Sin were smiling tauntingly. “Please don’t hesitate to let us know if any Ghouls are... misbehaving.” The two made obvious expressions at Ben and Alexis, causing them both to blush. Ben was lucky enough to have his face hidden. Cardinal Copia didn’t give in to their taunt. He only smiled, nodded, and turned to lead Alexis and Ben out the way they came. “Thank you, Sisters.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 22nd, 2017.


	20. The News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cardinal Copia and his love are finally able to spend some time together again, and to finally confess what's on their minds.

When Ben had returned to wherever he usually was hidden away, Alexis and Cardinal Copia snuggled up in their bed. They had done away with their clothes and replaced them with only the comfort of many blankets and each other’s’ warmth. They had been chatting away, filling each other in on the small, mundane moments of their time apart. They could both feel the weight of more important news pressing down upon their conversation like the air before a thunderstorm.

“My love?” The Cardinal asked after they had finally struck a long enough silence. She was curled up on his chest, his arm around her shoulders. She knew it was time to stop listening to him through his chest and to actually look him in the eyes. Readjusting to a sitting position, Alexis gave her full attention to her devoted husband. “I believe that you have something that you had wanted to share? I have some of my own as mentioned before, but I feel that yours has been weighing heavily on your heart.” It was time. The butterflies in Alexis’s stomach were going crazy, flapping in to each other like moths to a lamp.

“Have you noticed anything different about me?” Alexis felt that this question was familiar. “Anything at all?”

“I admit that I have, my sweetest.” The Cardinal kissed her nose. He didn’t elaborate on what he may have noticed. He only patiently waited for her to continue while stroking her arm slowly.

“Such as?” Alexis pressed ever onward. Copia sat up straighter in the bed, keeping his upper body turned towards his wife. The blankets slid down, exposing the perfect spread of hair across his lean chest. He took her hands in his and looked in to her eyes.

“You keep covering your stomach. You seem to be more easily angered. May I ask what is troubling you, my dear?”

“I found out that I’m pregnant.” She blurted it out quickly as though it were burning her tongue. There was no sugarcoating it. Her nerves made her want to look away, but she forced herself to keep eye contact. Her Cardinal’s eyebrows raised slightly and he opened his mouth to speak. He took in a breath, ready to tell her how he felt. Instead, he pulled her in for a hug and kissed her temple.

“And how do you feel about it?” He asked with his mouth near her ear. He was rubbing her back in soft circles.

“I don’t know. I mean, we’ve never really wanted this.” Alexis felt her eyes tearing up and she clung to her Cardinal. “I guess I’ve been waiting to form an opinion on it until I told you. Right now, I’m just scared.”

“Never be frightened when you have me, my love.” He continued rubbing her back, but now added soft kisses to her bare shoulder. “If you aren’t ready for this we can take care of it.”

“It’s not that.” In that moment, she realized that she was ready to go through with this. “I guess I’ve just been worried what you’d say when I told you.” The circles on her back stopped. Cardinal Copia leaned back just enough to see her face. His mismatched eyes searched her face to make sure that she was serious. The corners of his mouth twitched. Then spread. Alexis let out a nervous laugh that he returned.

“You’re going to make such a wonderful mother.” The Cardinal kissed Alexis, letting his lips spread his excitement. Little laughs interrupted their kisses here and there until they eventually parted. An entire world of weight was lifted from Alexis’s shoulders. They happily reveled in the glow of such an important moment in their lives, memorizing every aspect of it. The dim shadows cast by the lamp, the weight of the blankets on them, the feel of each other’s skin, and the fuzziness enveloping them both as they grinned.

Eventually, though, the high wore off slightly, and Alexis was dying of curiosity in regards to whatever news Cardinal Copia had. She asked about it, tracing her finger across the patch of hair on his chest.

“Ah, that. It seems a world away now that I’ve come back to such a wonderful wife with such wonderful news.” He kissed her a few times again.

“Come on, schmoozer, tell me.”

“Alright, alright. It’s just work-related, but I think you may be pleased nonetheless. As you know, I was called out to Linköping to discuss the retirement of the Emeritus brothers and to help assign a new front man for Ghost.” Alexis impatiently looked up at him. He chuckled before continuing. “Sister Imperator decided that it would be best if I were appointed to that position.”

Alexis sat straight up, not daring to believe the news. She gaped incredulously.

“Yes, I know. Me.” He said and shook his head slightly, eyebrows raised. Alexis threw her arms around him and congratulated him repeatedly. Eventually she was able to sit back up; it didn’t seem as though the announcement was complete. “I was introduced to Papa Nihil as Sister Imperator’s choice of successors. I will tell you, my love, I have never in my life had such an awkward encounter.”

They both burst in to laughter. The Cardinal relayed the details of his meeting with Papa Nihil moment by moment, and it did indeed sound horribly awkward. Sister Imperator had designed the exact way he would enter the room; holding a boombox that played a quick recording of an intro to a song he had only recently written. It was intended to impress Papa Nihil, but backfired horribly. The Cardinal didn’t know if he was supposed to leave it playing loudly over the words that he would exchange with the head of The Clergy, or if he should pause it to be able to hear better. He had decided to pause it and Papa Emeritus Nihil had reacted with great disappointment. Luckily, Sister Imperator smoothed things over and The Cardinal was given the official blessing as the new front man of Ghost. Cardinal Copia wasn’t sure how to leave gracefully, so he had decided on unpausing the music on the boombox and carrying it out the same way he had come in. Alexis and her Cardinal’s peals of laughter about this escalated to the point of silent shaking and tears streaming down their cheeks. Alexis felt like they would never be this high on giddiness again in their entire lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on November 22nd, 2017.


	21. The Requisition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexis still hasn't told her Cardinal about the darkness plaguing her. It's proving to be about time to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even begin to express my happiness that this story still has regular readers. The story wasn't intended to be so long, and we have a ways to go before the ending that I have planned, but it's a fun journey for me and I hope that it is for you all, too.  
> Thank you for your words of encouragement and for your support.
> 
> I love each of you for it.

It had been a little over a week of having her love home, and Alexis had still not told her Cardinal about one of the things he had not been present for. The darkness haunting her at every turn did not present itself around Cardinal Copia. That did not mean that it had gone away. Even the night that her Cardinal had returned, Alexis had horrid night terrors and woke screaming again. She had lied and told her husband that she couldn’t remember her dream. In actuality, her nightmare was similar to the rest. The apocalypse had come at the hands of a plague. 

In the dream, her stomach throbbed with pain as she bled heavily from her womanhood. She was hunched over and clutching at her stomach. The air was hot wind, whipping her hair around as she stood stop a hill of death. Amidst this oasis of a poisoned well, the rotting carcasses clogged the deep valley before her. Corpses were scattered around her feet, reeking of pus and decaying flesh. Cardinal Copia was standing to her right, again in his black cassock and biretta. He was not looking at her or helping her. He was gazing down upon the world, watching the flames of Hell burst through the ground. A half-smile was visible on his face in the flickering light. He held a rat that watched the chaos with him. The pain in Alexis’s stomach became too much and that was when she had woken screaming.

Over that following week, the nightmares had been less vivid and painful, but they had still tormented her in her sleep. Her Cardinal was concerned, but she reassured him that pregnant women often have very weird dreams and that it was probably nothing.

Deciding to tell her Cardinal what was going on would take some courage. She did not want him to think that she was losing her mind. Sanity was a fragile thing for Alexis already; she was bipolar and had a history of a few lapses in reason. This was different, though. Even her Nameless Ghoul friend had witnessed this horrific being trying to harm her. There was no way she was imagining it. Still, it was not easy to come to terms with.

The deciding factor to come forth with this information was an attack. Cardinal Copia was understandably busy recording music in a nearby studio. If he didn’t get the quality just right, Sister Imperator would make him go back to Sweden to record it. He did not want to leave his wife alone again, especially for the amount of time it takes to record an entire new album.

Since he was busy and not able to be home every moment, Alexis was still endangered, unbeknownst to her Cardinal. On a snowy day, she was cozied up in her favorite chair in the library. Her Nameless Ghoul friend had been too embarrassed to spend much time with her anymore. He seemed concerned about upsetting Cardinal Copia or the Sisters of Sin. Alexis understood, but also missed his company greatly. She’d gotten so used to his comfort, and his oceanic eyes through the shine of his platinum mask. She wished he’d at least come dust the shelves near her so that she could feel his presence.

The library was a sanctuary to Alexis. The shelves of books had their own living, breathing presence. The smell of old paper and bindings made of leather (and some darker occult books made of more controversial “leather”) always helped her relax. She was always delighted to know that all of this secret information and all of these adventures were waiting patiently on the shelves to be explored. There were so many books that the shelves reached up to the ceiling. Alexis had begged her Cardinal to have a sliding ladder installed so that she could browse through the books whenever it was time to start a new one. Not having a job left Alexis with a lot of time to delve into fictional worlds. There was also a lot of time to research the darker side of life and the ways of Satanists. Today, she had browsed through the sizable paranormal section, trying to identify the entity that denied her peace of mind.

The words on the pages kept blurring together. The book she had chosen, The Demonic Dictionary, was as exciting as the title. The book read very much so like a dictionary. Alexis started to nod off. The lack of restful sleep was getting to her quite a bit. The book dropped to the floor. The smack of it hitting the ground woke Alexis with a start. Despite being awake, she could not move at all. Every bit of her body was paralyzed. Claustrophobia kicked in and she desperately tried to move at least her pinky. Straining and forcing every bit of will to that one single digit did nothing. The energy in her body was focused on her pinky. She could feel the muscles attempt to move, but they were stopped short. All she could do was look around and hope that her mouth would allow a scream to come.

The room darkened around the edges. It seemed to slowly change to the red lighting of a darkroom used to develop film. Footsteps clumped around her, increasing her heartbeat to that of a hummingbird. A figure came in to view. It was a tall, thin human shape, but it was a pure black shadow. The eyes were hollow, allowing the red light to come right through. Its arms were unnaturally long with pointed fingers to match. One arm lifted as it got close to her. Sulfurous fumes made her nose hairs curl. One clawed finger pressed against her lower stomach, right where her uterus is, and hissed one word: “Miiine.”

Just as suddenly as the sleep paralysis happened, it broke. The room was back to normal and there was no sign of anything off-kilter. Alexis was left panting in her seat, holding her chest. Cardinal Copia needed to know about this. Once she stood up, her thighs became soaked with a gushing waterfall of blood. She shouted for The Cardinal and fell to her knees, dizzy with fear. Her Nameless Ghoul came running in immediately. Without a word, he scooped her up in to his arms. Ben ran with her to The Cardinal who was in the entryway; he was just coming home.

There was too much blood. Alexis drifted off to the appealing unconsciousness sucking her downwards. The last hazy thought she remembered having was of Sister Imperator’s voice, “Il filio de Sathanas ortus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on December 6th, 2017.


	22. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hospital visit reveals some surprising new information, as well as raising some confusion.

Alexis came to in a hospital bed, her Cardinal standing and looking at the heart rate monitor. It was beeping steadily. His hands were clasped behind his back, shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows. His black leather gloves were still on. The Cardinal did not like to talk about it, but Alexis knew that he was really bothered by feeling like his hands were dirty. Especially when he was under a lot of stress.

“What’s going on?” Alexis asked, her voice sounding tired and quiet. Her Cardinal turned to her with reprieve. His gloved hand traced the side of her face. A tickly trail followed his fingers. She had always loved the feeling of her face being caressed.

“Shhh. Everything is okay, my love.”

“What happened?” Her mind was fuzzy. She remembered blood. Lots of blood. An IV in her arm indicated that it was more than she should have lost. Her mind went to her pregnancy and she sat up. Her eyes went wide and she grabbed her love’s hands.

“Please do not worry, my love. Nothing is lost. I will get the doctor to explain better than I can. Everything is alright.” He squeezed her hand and left the room. Alexis didn’t have to wait long. The Clergy’s hospital was rarely busy, and she had a feeling that she had recently been upgraded to a VIP patient. As morbid as The Clergy was, Alexis was still surprised to see that the new attire of the doctors was so ominous. They now wore plague doctor masks. She had no idea how they could see through those well enough to perform their job duties, but somehow, they must have managed.

“Hello, Mrs. Copia.” The Nameless Ghoul doctor shook her hand. “I understand that you’ve had quite a scare, but rest assured that you are fine. The babies are fine, too.”

“Thank you, I –” She paused. “Babies? As in more than one?” Cardinal Copia came back to her side, grinning. He held her hand as he stood by her. Alexis was looking back and forth between him and the doctor, unsure how she felt. Moments ago, she was sure that she had lost the pregnancy entirely. Now it was not only saved, it was doubled.

“Yes, it is my pleasure to inform you that you have twins on the way.” Another Nameless Ghoul entered, wheeling a large machine in to the room. “Would you like to see them, Mrs. Copia?”

“I – um, sure.” She looked back up at her Cardinal and he beamed at her, giving her hand a quick pattern of encouraging squeezes. His excitement was catching; it cut through her groggy worries like they were nothing. “Yes. Yes, I would.”

Once they got the ultrasound machine working, the screen was a staticky mess. The doctor finally got the image on the screen that they were waiting for. Two barely discernable shapes were visible. They were just tiny circles, but there they were. The entire future of the Copia bloodline starting as tiny little clumps of cells.

“I’d say you’re right at about 5 weeks. One looks slightly smaller though.” Alexis cocked her head when the doctor said this. “Oh, no need to worry. That can be normal for fraternal twins, which these seem to be.”

After they looked at the blobs that would soon develop in to their children, Alexis and Cardinal Copia felt a buzzing warmth between the two of them. The doctor tapped a key with gusto and a printer on the cart started working. The first image of their children was being printed out.

“Doctor?” The doctor Ghoul looked up from the ultrasound image. “What happened to me, though, that brought me in?”

“Ah, yes, that. It’s nothing to worry too much about. Sometimes pregnant women experience some spotting. Yours was, of course, on the very severe side. We gave you a blood transfusion immediately. The babies seem to be in perfect health and so do you. I would recommend a lot of bed rest and hydration.”

The visit continued with small details and the usual medical jargon that fills hospital visits. Another Nameless Ghoul came in to retrieve the ultrasound machine. They froze in the doorway when they saw Alexis and Cardinal Copia. Their body language was oddly agitated. This Ghoul walked up to the machine and stared at the frozen image of the twins.

“Congratulations. They’re _rats_ , just like their father.” He spat. Alexis and Cardinal Copia didn’t know what to say. They simply remained in their frozen positions, mouths open, while the doctor Ghoul stood and forcibly removed this new Ghoul. The new Ghoul allowed themselves to be led out, but still angrily shook off the doctor’s arms that were guiding them.

-

The Cardinal and Alexis were driven home by a Nameless Ghoul. Alexis could tell that it was Ben. His distinctive, personal scent tended to make her stomach flip. He was being strictly professional with them. This stung. Alexis felt awful about the Sister of Sin being especially on his case because of her affection towards him. She also wondered how her Cardinal felt about their “friendship.” Did he understand the depths of it? Did she even understand it? Regardless of the tension there, Alexis and her Cardinal had a few things to deal with that took priority.

“Dearest?” Alexis was being held by her husband. She looked at him as she asked, “What was that about? The Ghoul in the hospital?”

He shook his head, with his eyebrows raised and his eyes closed. “I haven’t the faintest idea, my love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comment about the twins being rats is from a meme that [ Lulu ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyLulu) sent me. The meme is made by pie-bombs on Tumblr: [https://pie-bombs.tumblr.com/post/176786319796/congratulations-its-a-rat](url)
> 
> This chapter takes place on December 6th, 2017.


	23. The Papas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Emeritus brothers are all back in Sweden, bored and awaiting the next step in their retirement.  
> Alexis finally comes clean to her Cardinal about what has been plaguing her.

Two solid days of bedrest were painful both mentally and physically. After a while, Alexis’s back and hips hurt from simply laying around all day. Nothing was entertaining after a while; not even bringing a TV up to their room to play video games. In lieu of her traumatic event that led to a hospital visit, Alexis had held off on telling her Cardinal about the darkness.

The Cardinal came to lay in bed with his wife and keep her company for a while. Some Ghouls were working on recording instrumental pieces for him, so The Cardinal had a break. He and Alexis had some laughs together, but mostly they spent a lot of time kissing and enjoying the feeling of being together.

“Cardi?” Alexis broke free from his warm lips that were so addicting. His eyes slowly opened, heavy with pleasure. This close, Alexis could see his crow’s feet around his eyes. Each wrinkle in his face added to his appeal instead of depreciating it. God, was he handsome.

“Yes, my love?”

“I need to tell you about something.” Cardinal Copia’s eyes were so very enthralling. His green eye was so telling of his deepest love for her, always shining with a brightness when he’d see her. His white eye was seductive and flirtatious; but also, the holder of the less-than-soft feelings. In this moment, both eyes held wonder and concern. Alexis sighed softly as she lost herself in that captivating gaze.

“You can always tell me anything.”

“Do you remember how after we got married I had some crazy absinthe-induced vision?”

Her Cardinal smiled at the mention of their wedding night. It was only a small curling of the edges of his lips, but it showed what part of that evening was on his mind. She also fondly remembered the depravity of it all. He nodded once.

“Well, I have been having more.” Alexis continued. “Almost every night now. And the morning after I had dinner with Dante,” her face burned red for a moment, “I came home and I was... I don’t know, I guess... attacked?”

Cardinal Copia stiffened. “Attacked? By whom? Why did you not tell me?” His eyes flickered with the beginning flames of anger. The white eye felt like it was sucking her thoughts out of her through her eyes. Alexis sat up and held his hands in hers.

“Not by a person. By some sort of shadow. I don’t know. I thought I was just going crazy, but Ben has seen it, too.”

“Ben?”

“Yes, uh, the Nameless Ghoul who showed us around the passageways. Well, I guess now he’s not so nameless.” Cardinal Copia seemed to remember who Ben was just fine. The kitchen interaction was definitely a memorable event for Alexis; it seemed it was for The Cardinal as well. His eyes narrowed for a moment and he gestured for her to continue. She felt her face burn again. “Yeah. Anyway, I was being attacked in my sleep and he scared it off and woke me up.”

“Interesting.” The Cardinal said and looked down at his lap. “And this... this Ben. He was already in here when this happened?”

“Oh! No, no! Not like that.” She was beyond flustered. “I guess he heard me screaming and he came in to help.” There was no way this could feel more awkward. Alexis regretted telling him about the shadow at all. A sense of shame burned in her midsection.

“Why did you not tell me about this?” The Cardinal asked softly, still not looking up at his wife.

“I thought you’d think I’m crazy. Plus, you had enough to be dealing with in Linköping.” Alexis let her hands slip out from her husband’s grasp and wrapped her arms around herself. She hated feeling like people thought she was crazy. She knew her Cardinal didn’t, but the idea of it itself was enough to make her withdraw. “Also... It attacked me again when I had to go to the hospital. I think it was why I had to go.” She explained what happened in detail and The Cardinal listened stonily.

“I have to make a call. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

-

Alexis waited in bed nervously while The Cardinal stepped out to call Sister Imperator. He was reaching out to her for advice on who to help banish whatever it is in their home. Alexis listened to the quiet drone of his voice in a nearby room; his private office. Suddenly, this drone turned in to shouting.

“... – have you done? Are you insane? Why would you do that?” He let out a loud sob. “How could you do this? Why?”

Alexis’s heart sank down below her feet, endlessly falling. She scrambled out of bed, quickly kicking the blankets off. She rushed in to the office where she could hear her husband crying loudly. She had never heard him cry like this in all of their years together. Her heart was breaking in to more pieces with every sob.

When she got in to the office, he was on his knees in the middle of the room, his cell phone laying forgotten next to him. Sister Imperator’s name was showing on the screen with the call left on. Alexis heard her chuckle and then disconnect the call. The screen went black.

Alexis didn’t even ask yet. She just sat on the floor next to her husband and held him while he cried. He clung to her and cried in to her shoulder, his body racked with sobs. She ran her hands through his hair over and over, rocking him very gently. He started mumbling something between sobs, his breath hitching between each syllable.

“- Them.” Was all Alexis heard at first. Then the words began to string together. She killed them.

“Who, sweetheart?” Alexis asked softly. His sobs had slowed and he leaned back to look at her. His eyes were puffy and red, soaked with tears. His entire face was drenched. His chin trembled while he struggled to force his tears back long enough to speak.

“All of them. Joseph, Gustav,” his breath hitched in his chest again. “And Dante.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on December 8th, 2017.


	24. The Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the call with Sister Imperator has left both Alexis and The Cardinal in an unfamiliar emotional state.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient, especially after the way that last chapter ended!  
> I'd been following Ghost around on their tour so my writing and posting had been off schedule. Hopefully now I can stay on track again. Here are two chapters for you at once! :)

Grief struck everyone differently. Some cried endlessly, some remained stony-faced for weeks, some needed constant comfort from their loved ones, and others flat out seemed indifferent. Cardinal Copia and Alexis both spent the day crying together, unable to even speak about the loss of their close friends. Some moments passed with silent tears dripping interminably, others with the couple taking turns with audible lamentations. Their arms rarely left one another. The need for touch was strong and it completely replaced any need for verbal comfort.

Alexis’s mind tortured her heart with memories of the Emeritus brothers. She hadn’t had much time to spend with Joseph, Papa Emeritus I, as he was pretty old and didn’t care for socializing in excess. Regardless, his kooky old mannerisms were endearing. Alexis had loved how he rolled his eyes and scoffed at Gustav’s endless tricks on the middle child, Dante.

Oh, how Gustav loved to torment his older brothers. Papa Emeritus III was an ornery little shit and it drove Dante crazy. Gustav would do childish things like leave whoopee cushions around; one time even filling it with some brown gravy first. This earned him a good whap over the head from Papa II’s scepter. It looked and sounded like it must’ve hurt (that thing was heavy), but Gustav cackled about it as he ran off anyway.

The classic schticks were fun, but Papa III liked being wittier about his antics, too. At times he would simply trap Dante in a circular conversation and use his own words against him to make him flustered. When Dante got irritated enough to throw up his hands and storm off with an “aghh!” Gustav would laugh and laugh. Dante loved him anyway, although he wouldn’t say it around most. Alexis had caught them giving each other some sweet brotherly hugs more than once.

When he wasn’t busy pissing off his predecessor, Gustav was a flirtatious and quite suave man. In a mostly joking manner, he would hit on Alexis if she was the only woman around. He liked to “accidentally” bump in to her and use his hands on her hips to move her out of the way. Alexis wasn’t interested in him, but he still managed to make her tingle in exciting places. Something about the way his gloves rubbed against the material of her clothes made her body entirely too aware of all of the friction that they could create. Papa III knew he had this effect on her, which is why he did it so often. Sometimes he would do it in front of The Cardinal, who would just roll his eyes with a half-smile. Dante would scold him when he’d see it happen; a double bonus for Gustav.

Of all of the Emeritus brothers, Alexis had the most memories with Dante. Without him, she never would have met her soulmate. He had brought the two together and spent many nights with them. They would dine on steak and wine, usually drinking until the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes they would throw in some absinthe for the hell of it. Something about tripping and traveling to another realm with someone created a bond that was tough to create in any other way. The enticing wormwood was the apparatus for soul mobility; a gateway to secrecy. The trio would enjoy these excursions together infrequently, which made them all the more cherished. 

Dante’s laugh was rich, deep, and could fill a room with gaiety. This joie de vivre made Alexis love Dante almost as much as her husband did. Those two were seemingly closer than Dante was to his own brothers. Alexis liked to sit back and watch the two get closer and more animated with their conversations as they became more intoxicated. Their stories of their past adventures brought on a strong nostalgia for them and a new understanding of The Cardinal for Alexis.

The Cardinal’s heart certainly hurt from the loss of all of his dearest friends, but Alexis knew that Dante’s death pierced both of their hearts the deepest. They would never again hear that belly-laugh that they loved so much. They would never again see his intimidating glare break in to a smile. Alexis was eternally grateful that she was gifted with a special night with him before he was gone. What made it even more special was that it was not a slight against her husband. It was as though he knew that they needed to have that night at the right time.

Alexis and her Cardinal were still not able to speak their minds yet; they were consumed by their own memories. After a while, The Cardinal’s well of tears had run dry. Now, he was on his side, blankly staring at the wall behind Alexis. She was also on her side, watching him; not expecting any words to be exchanged or anything like that. No, she simply wanted to be close by and to be there if her love needed anything. She was hurting, but she felt that it was nothing compared to how her husband must be feeling. He had started to shake a little bit, as if he were cold. Since they were only lying in bed before the call, he wasn’t wearing his usual intricate clothes. He was only in thin, silky pants and a black undershirt.

Pulling the demask comforter gently over his shoulder, Alexis leaned over to kiss his forehead. He made no acknowledgement other than a small sigh through his nose. Silence it would be, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on December 8th, 2017.


	25. The Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grief tends to show itself in unexpected ways.

The next day wasn’t much easier. The Cardinal became mobile but he still did not speak. It was as if his lips were glued shut. He wouldn’t eat or drink. His lips were starting to crack from dehydration, yet he would not drink any of the icy glasses of water that Alexis and The Ghouls left for him. He went back and forth between sitting in his office, staring at blank music sheets, and laying on their bed.

During a time where he was in bed with his wife, her stomach gave a rumbling groan. Alexis didn’t want to eat, but her unborn children sure as hell did. She left her dearest with a soft kiss on his rough lips; one that was barely returned. The kitchen felt foreign and strange. Sometimes the shock of grief can make simple things seem new. This was the first time Alexis had used the kitchen since she heard of the murders; this was post-Emeritus world now. This wasn’t possibly the same kitchen that existed when the Emeritus brothers were alive and well.

A smell that Alexis was intoxicated by began to seep in to her consciousness. A warmth behind her told her that someone was nearby. She turned her head, but did not turn around. She saw a black suit and a shine at the corner of her peripheral view. Hands appeared on each of hers and slowly slid up her arms, rubbing softly. A body pressed against her back, and the gentle arm-touching turned in to a hug. She held on to these muscular forearms and closed her eyes.

“I’m so, so sorry, Alexis,” An alluring British accent drifted in to her ear, muffled by a mask. Tears welled up in her eyes, but refused to spill over. She turned so that these soothing arms didn’t drop, but so that she was facing her tall, handsome Ghoul friend. She looked up in to those framed eyes and simply kept looking. He tucked her hair behind her ear, leaving his hand there to hold her cheek. Alexis closed her eyes and rested her face in his hand.

The light behind her eyelids was dimming, the air by her mouth was warmer. She felt the coolness of the platinum Ghoul mask touch her face. Better yet, she felt smooth lips press against hers tentatively. Without opening her eyes, she used her lips to give permission to continue. Another soft kiss. Her heart still felt broken, but this tenderness from her special Ghoul helped. He pulled back and watched her eyes take their time in opening. His arms slid to her waist.

“Let’s get you something to eat,” he said softly. Alexis felt a smile force its way on to her face. It felt unnatural. She couldn’t help it, though.

They made food and ate together. It was good to have her sweet friend back.

After cleaning up, they found themselves in close proximity again. The tension between them swelled until it felt like the air itself was nudging them towards each other. Alexis gently pushed back Ben’s mask and kissed him, more firmly than before. He returned the kiss without hesitation and took her in his arms again. Alexis suddenly became almost hungry for him. Her body started to tremble as the carnal part of it woke up. She gripped the back of his head and pressed her body into his. He pressed back, kissing her more deeply. Warmth from Ben at her waist turned in to pressure, then a defined shape that she could feel. She could tell that he was thick. Moving her hips to create friction against the tightness of his pants made Ben moan quietly in to her mouth. She drank it in and ground her hips harder against him.

The sound of someone clearing their raspy throat brought the two out of their lust-induced daze. The Cardinal was leaning against the archway that led in to the kitchen, arms folded across his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on December 9th, 2017.


	26. The Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cardinal has just caught his wife in the arms of a Nameless Ghoul. The way he reacts might be a surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY to leave you all on such a cliffhanger.  
> Life has been beyond crazy for me and I haven't written in forever. I am a few chapters ahead of what I'm posting, so to make up for it I'll post a few chapters right now.
> 
> Also; I had to change my username. Long story that I can't share. It's a cheesy new name but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The Cardinal had once again completely busted his wife sharing a moment with a Ghoul. Only this time, the interaction was much more intense.

All color had drained from Ben’s face; he was unable to move. He couldn’t even move his arms away from Alexis. She pulled slowly back out of his embrace, looking at her husband, unsure what to say. He strode over to them quietly, face unreadable. Fear and guilt chased each other through Alexis’s midsection. What in the fuck was I thinking? she thought. Yes, she was grieving, which did odd things to people; but was that excuse enough to give in to lust? Her husband had previously left an open invitation to be with others, but was that only meant to be when he was gone? They had not discussed the limits or expectations for the unexpected conversation about opening up their sex lives. It was one big, confusing mess.

The Cardinal approached Alexis first. She didn’t know what to do or say, so she remained still and silent. He smiled and gave her a kiss. This was unexpected and nerve-wracking for her, but she kissed him back nonetheless. What else was she to do? Perhaps this was an outlet for her Cardinal’s heartbreak?

It was Ben’s turn to have The Cardinal approach him. The Cardinal was tall, but not as tall as Ben. Even so, he still seemed to tower over Ben with his presence. He got closer until they were almost touching. Their eyes were locked in silent conversation when The Cardinal did something completely out of the left field. He kissed Ben, too. Ben’s eyes remained open in surprise, but his lips returned the gesture.

“Why should I let you two have all of the fun?” The Cardinal asked as his and Ben’s lips parted. They both looked over at Alexis, who was standing there, gawking at them. Ben looked confused, too, but he was beginning to relax. The Cardinal apparently wasn’t going to fire him; or worse.

Cardinal Copia held out his hand for Alexis to come closer, which she did. The Cardinal slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. They were all standing within a breath of each other. The spontaneity was like an aphrodisiac, reigniting the lust between them.

The Cardinal kissed Alexis, tracing one finger along her back in the spot that he knew quite well would make her shiver. His kisses became more intense. His other arm slid around Ben’s waist as he stopped kissing Alexis. Surprisingly, he didn’t have to initiate the kiss with Ben. Ben leaned in to it and kissed the Cardinal with as much fervor as he had been kissing Alexis.

Seeing the two with their lips locked was unexpected, and that surprise only increased the amount of wetness building in her panties. She watched the muscles in their jaws work as they explored each other. The Cardinal broke the kiss and motioned for Alexis to take over. As she and Ben dove in right where they had left off, The Cardinal started to rub the front of Ben’s pants, grabbing gently. Ben once again moaned in to Alexis’s mouth, breaking their kiss. Ben looked down at The Cardinal’s hand as it worked him through his pants.

“Should we take this somewhere more comfortable?” Cardinal Copia asked quietly. He led them in to the next room, which was a sitting room lit only by the fireplace in the outer wall. He gently led Ben to sit on the couch and sat next to him. He yanked Alexis on to his lap and kissed her with passion. His hand once again found its way to Ben’s rock-hard erection; only this time he had unzipped the pants first. Ben leaned his head back on the sofa and was breathing heavily. The only thing separating him from The Cardinal’s hand was a thin layer of cotton. He wanted so badly for it to be gone. Precum started to show through where the tip of he was pressed against his briefs. The Cardinal could feel it and he used it to lubricate the rubbing of Ben’s tip with his thumb. Ben let out a soft fuuuck. 

Alexis stopped kissing her Cardinal to watch what he was doing. Seeing Ben’s relaxed face and hearing his panting made her nipples harden. She wanted to be the cause of it. The Cardinal gave a quick upward thrust against her, making her gasp. He nodded over to Ben and took his hand away. She switched laps and ground herself roughly on Ben. His hands gripped her hips tightly. She could feel his hardness between her lips while she pushed and pulled herself across the length of him. It was so hard that it almost hurt her, and she loved it.

She heard a zip and looked at her husband. He had pulled his beautiful cock out and was stroking it gently while he watched her on Ben. He was back to his sanguine demeanor, but with a dash of a commanding presence.

“Come here,” He said authoritatively. She got up and moved to sit in his lap again. He shook his finger at her and stood. “On your knees. Beg like a good girl.” 

This was new, and she liked it. She got on her knees and crawled to him. Slowly. He motioned for Ben to come to him, and Ben was eager to obey.

Excitement bubbled through Alexis’s body and she quivered at the thought of having both of them. Ben pulled his pants to his thighs, exposing his girthy cock. The tip of it was a smooth pink and it looked like it needed a mouth around it; which Alexis would happily volunteer for. First, she had her husband to attend to. Ben was coming closer until the two men were able to kiss; which they did. Being so close, both of their erections were by Alexis’s face while she was on her knees. The Cardinal broke his kiss and looked down at her, petting her hair. “Come on, my love. Tell us how much you want it.”

“Please, please.” She started as she looked in to his eyes from below. Seeing him from this angle gave him a presence of sovereignty over her. The Cardinal’s fingers wove in to her hair and tightened.

“You can do better than that, my love. I’ve heard it. Now give us a good reason that you deserve it.”

“Please, Cardinal, let me taste you,” Alexis moaned to him as he tilted her head back. “I need to feel both of you in my mouth. I need to know which one of you I can fit the farthest down my throat. I need it. Please. Let me take Ben for the first time. I want to know what he tastes like. Please, my Cardinal.”

The Cardinal yanked her head towards Ben’s cock, which made Ben’s eyebrow raise. Alexis let her lips tickle the head, giving him a preview of what she wanted to do with it. Her tongue barely reached out and touched him when The Cardinal pulled her head back towards him a little bit, so that she was perfectly in the middle again. Her neck popped and endorphins gushed out, forcing out a moan. The Cardinal seemed satisfied and went back to Ben’s enticing lips.

She took each in her mouth one at a time, paying attention to the differences between the two. The underside of Ben’s head was smoother along her tongue. Her Cardinal’s was less veiny along the shaft, giving smoothness there. She took both in her hands and put them in her mouth at the same time, licking both tips and moving her head side to side, giving them both the attention that they deserved.

The men’s mouths moved apart and they both looked down to watch her. Hearing both of them make noise for her satisfied Alexis on a level she was previously unaware of. The Cardinal held out a hand to help her to her feet. He had Ben sit back on the couch. As he sat, The Cardinal pulled Alexis’s clothes off quickly, kissing and biting her shoulders as he did so. Slight touches were tickling all around her thighs from his erection as he walked around her. He nudged her forward to Ben, who was now also unclothed.

An impatient longing overtook Alexis’s mind and the next thing she knew, she was sliding down on to Ben’s fat cock that stretched her wide. She could hardly breathe past the sensation of him filling her so completely. Head back and hissing through his teeth, Ben was giving Alexis the exact reactions that she wanted to pull out of him. She leaned forward to lick and suck his neck by his ear, which he seemed to enjoy as much as she had hoped he would. Her Cardinal started rubbing and slapping her ass, moving closer in. She slowed her movements and looked over her shoulder at him invitingly.

They had shared their bed with others before, but not with one single male shared. It was usually a group where The Cardinal didn’t interact with the men much. Alexis didn’t realize how badly she had wanted this until she was getting it.

The Cardinal seemed to already know.

He slid his hand in between her and Ben, using the wetness from his wife on himself. There was plenty to spare; she was caught very off guard by all of this and the element of surprise was a big turn-on for her. When Cardinal Copia was nice and slick, he eased his way in to her other opening. Alexis had never had two men inside of her in this way. She felt like she would explode from overwhelming pleasure. The two men synchronized their movements, exploring different patterns that made Alexis nearly scream.

Ben was rubbing her nipple with one hand and he held her waist with the other. The Cardinal was pulling her hair just enough to make her head tilt back. The motion of their cocks sliding in and out of her in unison, filling her more than she had ever been before, made her want to cry from how good it felt. The men seemed to enjoy feeling each other’s cocks through Alexis, as well. They kept making eye contact and would give a different paced thrust, smiling when the other would moan. All of a sudden Ben stopped, clenching his teeth.

“Fuck, I can’t,” he said in his beautiful accent. The Cardinal had a hushed laugh and shoved himself deeper; forcing Alexis forward and back again. This set Ben over the edge. He threw his head back and shouted as he came. Alexis could feel him cumming in her, making her want to follow suit. She tried to wait for her Cardinal. He tightened his grip on her hair and gave a few quick thrusts, leaning over his wife’s back.

“Cum for us,” The Cardinal said in to the back of her neck, giving her chills. Alexis let herself go and came. Messily. The Cardinal was not far behind. He let go of her hair as he slowly moved backwards and out of her. The tension that had built up for so long between her and her Nameless Ghoul was finally released; all over her couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on December 9th, 2017.


	27. The Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cardinal is ready to continue his responsibilities to The Clergy. Alexis and Ben enjoy time together while staving off the darkness.

Comfort was exactly what Alexis and her Cardinal needed. The form that it found them in was unexpected, but as they say; you’ll never find it if you’re looking for it. The two couldn’t seem to comfort each other after their closest friends were taken away. Their energy was too drained to provide support for another person, even if they loved said other person more than the world itself. It took the energy of someone who was not quite as affected by the heinous severance of the Emeritus bloodline. It took the delicate energy of a quiet Nameless Ghoul that already spent his time helping them in other ways.

Not all Nameless Ghouls had the pleasure of meeting the Papas, but this Nameless Ghoul had played guitar for Ghost on Papa III’s final tour; the Popestar tour. He was there when Papa Emeritus III was dragged off of the stage dramatically, and for the introduction of Papa Emeritus Nihil. Ben was saddened by the loss of Gustav, but he was not as close with him as Cardinal Copia and Alexis were. He was able to feel their pain, yet he was still be able to carry on with life. He had the strength to emotionally support the two that he never thought would come to see him as more than a masked servant.

Surprisingly, the days following their broken seal were not uncomfortable. Cardinal Copia was able to mend any gaps in conversation and to assure everyone involved that their exploration was not only needed, but desired. He admitted jealousy before they all connected, but it was not simply the tension between his wife and Ben. It was also the tension he had felt with Ben himself, although he did not know the Ghoul’s name or face behind the mask until he returned from Linköping. What he did know was that there was a Head Ghoul in his home that filled his uniform out deliciously; a Ghoul who really knew how to take orders, which The Cardinal liked. Cardinal Copia admittedly did not fantasize about men much until Ben started working for them. Seeing his wife and his masked subject of his affections together without him did stir up some envy. Seeing it a second time with more fire behind it was a turn-on that he could not resist.

One of the things that drew Alexis and her Cardinal closer was their choice in carnal sins: Lust. It would only make sense that indulging in this desire would help mend their broken hearts. Their Not-So-Nameless Ghoul was more than happy to fulfill this desire along with them. He was eager to please.

Weeks passed and Cardinal Copia had gone back to recording music for his evil employers, resentful at first, but music was also a major healing factor for him. He was able to pour his hurt and anger in to his singing. Alexis was at home with Ben rather often. Pregnancy suited her well thus far. She was getting big very quickly; however, she managed it well and did not gain too much weight in other areas. There was always a glow about her that the haunting darkness could not dim.

That darkness. It was always lurking, watching, following. On nights where The Cardinal was working very late, Ben would keep Alexis company in bed to help stave off the dark being. Sometimes it worked, sometimes her nightmares were still repugnant and left the taste of death in her mouth. Sister Imperator refused The Cardinal’s request for help, although she would not give a reason that was anything above vague. Sister’s reasons were her own, but Alexis felt that there was malicious intent behind the lack of aid.

After 2018 had begun, The Cardinal was becoming busier and busier. In addition to the work for the upcoming album, there was a music video to prepare for, as well as events for promoting the album, and planning a tour. The music industry was demanding, and so was The Clergy. Alexis did not get to see much of her Cardinal in this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You'll never find it if you're looking for it" - lyrics from Blue and Yellow by The Used
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter takes place in December 2017 and leads us in to 2018.


	28. The Disclosure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The year 2018 is moving along quickly already. The Cardinal remains busy and Alexis's twins are growing very quickly. Ben is as willing to help as always, providing every need. Including information.

By February, Alexis looked much farther along than she felt she should for only being three months pregnant. She looked at least six months along. Regular visits to The Clergy’s medical offices assured her that this was fine for twins. The ultrasounds showed that the two were more human-looking and had somewhat developed features. Soon she could find out the genders, which excited her more than she had thought it would. Not that she cared what they were; she simply wanted to know as much about her future children as possible.

The Cardinal was only home during nights, usually late ones, and wasn’t able to spend much time with his wife. He did enjoy singing to the twins when he could, holding his hand on Alexis’s protruding stomach with his eyes closed when he did so. She could always feel how much love was pouring out of him as he would do so. Nothing made her heart swell more than those moments. The hum of his soft voice would vibrate through her, always drawing out a smile. There were times where his voice was inaudible to her. These conversations were just between him and the twins. She wondered sometimes what he was telling them, but she was happy enough with the fact that he wanted to bond with them on his own, too.

As busy as her Cardinal was, he was never too busy to enjoy midnight snacks when Alexis’s weird cravings kicked in. He began to gain the littlest bit of sympathy weight with her. His stomach was getting slightly pudgy, he was developing the beginnings of love handles, and she loved it. It was so much more comfortable to cuddle with someone who had extra cushioning. A new favorite cuddling position would be for her to rest her head on his stomach and feel him breathing. The Cardinal’s tum was her favorite new pillow. When she’d lay on it, he would have his arm around her shoulder and use his other hand to run his fingers through her hair. They often fell asleep like this at night.

When The Cardinal wasn’t able to be at home, Ben was usually around to keep Alexis company. He was never persistent or pushy when it came to wanting to be with her and Cardinal Copia. He always let them come to him. There was a particular shine in his eye when Alexis would show how much bigger she was getting by the day. Sometimes those perfect white teeth would even bite his lower lip while he stared at her new, large curve. Seems we’ve discovered a fetish, Alexis thought. She liked to find nonchalant ways draw his attention to her stomach. 

Tonight was a night where Ben was seeming to stare at Alexis a lot more than usual; a night where she could tell how badly he wanted her. On these nights, she liked to pretend that she didn’t notice and would tease him relentlessly. If he was dusting the bookshelves in the library, she would make sure to pick a book that made her lean down so that her face was at hip level for him. She would take her time and lean in close, but not touching. If they happened to be in the kitchen at the same time, she would brush by him closely. Often, her breasts and extended midsection would rub along his back, making him let out sighs of desire.

Her special Ghoul was walking down the same hall that Alexis was; the upstairs hall near her bedroom. They paused without a word, standing in front of each other, just looking at each other. Alexis took a step closer. The step was matched by her Ghoul. Their bodies were almost touching. It was a game of chicken; who would cave in to the lust first?

Alexis felt warmth spreading from between her legs, traveling up to her chest to make her tingle all over. Her stomach blocked a bit of a downward view, so she was able to surprise Ben when she caved in. Her hand cupped him quickly, but gently. He rose on his tiptoes for a second before relaxing in to her hand. Massaging gently, Alexis worked Ben up in to the hardness that she’d grown so fond of. His tight pants did not leave a single thing to the imagination. Need filled her entire consciousness and there was nothing else.

“Get in.” Alexis pointed to her bedroom door. Ben nodded and led the way in to her chambers. He started unbuttoning his vest and turned so that Alexis could watch him. Over the past two months, he had learned what she wanted when she ordered him around. 

Once he was shirtless with his pants unbuttoned, Alexis closed the distance between them. She loved feeling his soft skin and seeing the V by his hips disappear in to his pant line. A small patch of trimmed hair showed between the edges of the open zipper. Underwear was banned from the Head Ghoul uniform after their first sexual encounter. Cardinal Copia wanted easy access.

Ben’s mouth was soft, as usual, and he let Alexis set the pace. The need growing in her wouldn’t allow a slow pace. Her hand was tracing the edge of his patch of hair, making his lower stomach twitch. Their kisses were sloppy and deep. She pulled Ben to her bed and did not break the kiss as he lowered himself on top of her. Feeling his hardness press against her, throbbing with the need to enter her, made her feel aggressively salacious. Pushing him roughly to have him roll over, she straddled him and brought his hand to her breast. Her dress was yanked off over her head and his pants were slid down enough to expose him.

Riding her Ghoul was a favorite position, but they liked to switch it up a lot. When Ben could hardly handle the pleasure of her grinding him deeper in to her, she would slowly pull herself upwards and watch his eyes roll back. Sometimes, like tonight, she would lower herself back on to him painfully slowly to torture him.

“Ahh, you tease!” Ben smiled as pressed his head back in to the pillow. His pale skin showed his beautiful muscles tensing as he held himself back. His hair was a sweaty mess, some curly strands stuck to his forehead. Alexis moved off of him and waited for him to collect himself.

“Ben,” She said. He looked at her, catching his breath. “I want you in charge now.”

She didn’t have to say it twice. He came at her, grinning devilishly. He flipped her on her side and shoved one leg up by the thigh. There wasn’t even a moment to react before he was inside of her again, ramming himself as deeply as he could get. Each push made Alexis moan as she clutched the sheets. He reached under her thigh and rubbed her clitoris in a pattern that he had learned early on; a pattern that always got her to cum quickly. He grunted each time he slammed in to her, his hips bruising her ass. She didn’t care; all she could think about was how high she was on pleasure.

Alexis didn’t remember cumming, but she knew she did. What she did remember was how hard Ben came and how satisfying that was. His whole body folded and shook with each wave of his orgasm. He couldn’t even manage to make much noise; only open his mouth with his eyes shut, letting out short gasps.

-  
Pillow talk with Ben was one of the great things about sleeping with him. He was generally so quiet, so getting a chance to have open and honest conversations was pleasant. They were talking about how crazy it was that Cardinal Copia was about to be a father and how The Clergy would soon have a new bloodline. When Alexis mentioned that they had previously not wanted children Ben got quiet, only answering with mms or nods.

“You okay?” Alexis asked, lying naked next to her sweaty Ghoul, also still naked.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He wouldn’t look at her.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing.” There was a long silence.

“Ben.” Alexis gently pulled his face to look in to hers. She searched those blue, blue eyes to see what he was hiding.

“Alexis, I really, really shouldn’t tell you.” His eyes looked so sincerely concerned. A heavy sigh followed this statement, along with a hand to the forehead. The muscles in his jaw clenched and unclenched a few times.

“Are you-?” Alexis started to ask. Ben dragged his hand down his face. When his hand stopped over his mouth, he looked back at her.

“If Sister Imperator finds out that I’ve told you this, angry would be an understatement for how she’d react.” Alexis waited, letting Ben decide if he would share or not. She didn’t want Sister to be upset with Ben, but her curiosity was killing her. “Look, Alexis, I’ve grown to really care for you. A lot. You and Cardinal Copia have done more for me than I ever thought anyone would. And this whole time I’ve been keeping secrets from you, lying to you. I can’t do it anymore. I just can’t.”

“I know they didn’t really give you any choice.” Alexis put her hand on his arm and squeezed. “If you can’t – “

“The Clergy wanted you pregnant,” Ben blurted out. “Your birth control was replaced with a placebo sometime in September.”

“I...” Alexis was at a loss. Her hand was still holding Ben’s arm; she had frozen in shock. The Clergy was evil, she knew that, but this was a new low. What the hell gave them the right to betray her and her husband like this? They already controlled most of their lives, why did they have to add this in to the mix? Anger started bubbling in her gut. The twins stirred uncomfortably. “How do you know this?” Her voice sounded much calmer than she felt. Ben took a deep breath in and out.

“The Cardinal told me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on February 10th, 2018.


	29. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cardinal has a lot of explaining to do.

“Betrayal” didn’t even come close to the feeling that made Alexis’s mind feel oddly blank. There were very many levels of lies, none of which she had ever suspected of her Cardinal. This was one big fucking lie to hide from her. She wondered what else may be behind the face she had trusted with her life eternally.

When Cardinal Copia came home from the studio, he had expected things to be normal. He assumed Alexis would be in the library reading or snacking in the kitchen. He did not expect to see his wife standing in the foyer waiting for him with her arms crossed and her face stonily blank. He carefully closed the door behind him and hung his jacket and black fedora on the coat rack. The white suit he wore clung flatteringly to his thighs and emphasized his enticing package. Alexis refused to let herself get distracted.

“My love,” The Cardinal began cautiously as her approached her, one hand out to caress her face. Alexis slapped it away. The Cardinal’s eyes flashed with the slightest hint of anger at the sting in his hand, yet his face mainly held consternation.

“How could you lie to me? Ever?” Her face was reddening. The Cardinal’s face relaxed back in to its usual graceful calmness in no time. He was the master at hiding his true feelings when he found it necessary. Doing this when speaking to Alexis, though, was something he generally tried to avoid. It was all the more conspicuous in this moment.

“What lie do you believe I have told you, my love?”

“You replaced my fucking birth control with sugar water! You couldn’t have just told me that you wanted to try for kids?” Alexis’s voice raised more and more. “What else have you been keeping from me, you lying rat?”

Looking stung at this last statement, The Cardinal hung his head without answering. His shoulders had slumped. The façade of humble composure was tossed aside. He was caught.

“Answer me!” Alexis shouted, her words echoing through the empty house. She grabbed his face roughly and pulled it up to meet her eyes. He yanked his face back out of her grip and took her hands in his, holding tightly enough to hurt. Her fingers were throbbing. Alexis refused to wince or show any discomfort. Their glares created an uncomfortable heat between them that had never once been there before.

“Do not do that again,” He warned quietly. Alexis had never once heard this voice come from her husband. For the first time since they had ever met she felt somewhat afraid of him. His hands opened suddenly, letting her arms fall away. “Let us sit down and talk about this like adults, hmm?”

Alexis allowed herself to be led to their sitting room. She knew she shouldn’t have yelled at him the way that she did, or laid a hand on him with any anger. At this moment, she didn’t care. Her fingers ached where they were smashed together in his grip. Her wedding ring had left a purple indentation on the fingers next to it. It occurred to her how ugly this could turn out and her stirrings of fear deepened.

They sat on a couch next to each other. Alexis was positioned to be half-turned to her husband who was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. Silence built between them as The Cardinal chose his words carefully.

“I couldn’t tell you,” were the first words that came out of him. Alexis scoffed, but still waited for him to explain himself further. “I couldn’t tell you because Sister Imperator would have none of it. You would have been endangered. The ritual wouldn’t have worked if you were acting on your own free will.”

“Ritual? For what?” Instead of this conversation answering questions, this only brought a million more to her mind. It was not easing her worries as she had expected. The Cardinal held his forehead in his hand for a moment. His knee was bouncing; something incredibly rare to see from his ever-so-collected appearance. “For what?”

“This custom goes back quite a while, my dearest. Let me think how to best explain it to you.” After a few moments that stretched across eons, The Cardinal let his hand fall back in to his lap. He turned to face Alexis as she was facing him, mirroring her position. She allowed him to take her hands in his, gently this time. Thumbs caressed the backs of her hands. She hated that it comforted her and helped her tension leave her shoulders minutely.

“Do you know how long The Clergy has been around, my love?” The Cardinal began his explanation. When she shook her head, he continued. “Centuries. The Emeritus bloodline has not been broken since the birth of The Clergy. If it did not at least partially continue now, there would be no Clergy anymore.”

“But you aren’t –”

“Please, my love, please let me continue. All will be explained.” He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “As far as I know, no, I am no Emeritus; although Sister Imperator has said some things to have made me question this.” There was a long pause as his gaze shifted to distant thoughts. “I digress. If the bloodline were not to continue, The Clergy would then be considered a betrayal to their ancient promise to The Olde One. In order for our marriage to remain sanctioned, and for me to accept the new role of the face of Ghost, some sacrifices would need to be made. The Clergy did not approve of our marriage unless I promised them that I would use it to further the Emeritus bloodline, as the then-current sons of the bloodline were unwilling or unable to do so. I promise you, my dearest, I put it off as long as I possibly could in order to potentially defer this responsibility on to someone else. I did everything in my power to change things so that you would never have to know or go through this.”

His eyes held so much regret that Alexis herself got tears in her eyes. He was speaking slowly, voice wavering at times. As much sympathy as she felt for her soulmate, she could not feel forgiveness for the lies yet.

“Cardi, I –”

“I promise, my love, I promise I will tell you everything right now, if only you will let me finish. This is incredibly difficult for me and I fear that I won’t be able to finish if I hear what you have to say before I am done.” Alexis sighed and nodded for him to continue. She detested being interrupted, but she supposed this was as good of a reason as any. “The reason that I have been able to keep you safe from The Clergy has been that I have found a way for the bloodline to continue, but also for us to have a new bloodline; one of our own. A new bloodline unbeknownst to The Clergy may help us in the coming years. I had made a deal to allow for twins to achieve both intentions, but the compromise was that you could not accept this task with free will or knowledge. Sister Imperator still does not know of my selfish desire to have a child of our own, a child born that will be ours and ours alone. I wanted to tell you so many times, I swear it.”

“Cardi, can you stop for a moment?” The Cardinal stopped, his eyes pleading for understanding. “This is too much to take in, I –”

“I know, and I am almost finished, Alexis. Please.”

“Alright... Alright. I just – this is a lot.” Her hands slipped out of his grasp as she closed herself off.

“I know, my dearest. I know. I understand if you cannot forgive me, but please at least hear my reasons.” The Cardinal searched her face for a reaction and was met only with an expectant stare. “The one to whom I made this promise is essentially the wife of The Olde One; she is able to keep this a secret; to play it off as an accident on our part. She provided extra fertility to your womb to allow two separate fathers. The only other person who knew of this was Dante, and you are the only living woman he was willing to gift his seed to.”

“Are you serious? ‘Gift his seed?’ Is that why you had him come seduce me after some bullshit excuse for us to open things up?” Alexis couldn’t believe that the two men in the world that she trusted the most were in on a secret like this. A secret that used her body as a vessel without her permission. Did they not understand the physical, emotional, and mental toll that pregnancy had on a person? “How could you? How could he?”

“I had no choice!” The Cardinal stood quickly and started to pace. He talked with his hands often, but tonight they were much more active than she was used to. “They were going to kill you! I didn’t know before we were wed what the penalty of denying their wishes was. I was willing to risk excommunication, which is all I thought it would be. I had no idea that I was putting your life at risk or I would never have asked for your hand.”

Alexis couldn’t believe her ears. Their entire marriage was engulfed by this secret. Her husband knew that he would most likely eventually have to impregnate her despite their conversations about not wanting kids in the foreseeable future. The blatant disregard for her wishes was like a backhanded slap to the face. Her stomach twisted in to a painful knot. Tears that she didn’t even know were forming started to drip slowly off of her lower lashes.

“How could you?” was all she could manage to say. The Cardinal stopped his pacing and kneeled before her.

“Alexis, I swear to you that I did not know the penalty and that I tried to stop this. I swear it on everything that I am.”

“Which is what? A liar? A sneak? A rat?” Again, Cardinal Copia’s face crumpled at the insults. “You have shrouded our marriage in a lie. You have kept this from me all this time and let me live my life thinking that you were the one person in the world that I could trust with no restraint.”

“I did it to save your life after making a mistake! I am only human, Alexis, we make mistakes!” The Cardinal was crying now, too. He was on his knees before her, all but begging for her to understand. She simply couldn’t. Not right now.

“I need you to leave.” Alexis said. The Cardinal opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it. She almost wanted him to argue, to beg to stay, to fight all night with her. They both knew that the only tiny chance of their marriage surviving this was to take some space for now.

“As you wish, my everything.” The Cardinal left with grabbing nothing but his hat on his way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delays in adding chapters. Writing this one made me actually feel like I had a fight with a loved one. I had to take a small break afterwards.
> 
> This chapter takes place on February 10th, 2018.


	30. The Removal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The consequences of breaking vows of secrecy are not to be disregarded.

Sleep was scarce after having an argument with her Cardinal that ended so horribly. The sickness from anger and hurt rested deep in her stomach. Her heart felt like it had turned in to a rock and sank to the bottom of her core. She spent most of the night rubbing her distended belly, comforting the twins who couldn’t seem to stop tossing and turning. It was as if they could sense the turmoil in times like these. Whenever her heart ached, it seemed that they knew and felt it along with her.

Alexis wasn’t sure if she had slept at all or just dozed lightly. She was awoken from her rest by a loud thud and the sounds of a scuffle downstairs. Aggravated voices accompanied the sounds. Concerned, she got out of bed and tip-toed to the top of the stairs to listen.

“Don’t make us do this the hard way.” This voice was familiar; strict and unyielding. It couldn’t be anyone but Sister Imperator herself. What the hell is she doing in my house? Alexis thought angrily. The fury at this woman overtook her sense of caution, bringing her to head downstairs in noting but her negligee.

The scene before her eyes was painful. Two men in completely black suits were grabbing Ben under the arms, trying to drag him to the front door. Ben started to struggle and pull his arms free when one of the men pulled out a nightstick. Panic filled Alexis to the brim.

“Ben!” She rushed forward. Sister Imperator blocked Alexis’s way with that simpering smile she always saved just for her. Sister held Alexis by the arm. Alexis felt like she was being poisoned simply by being touched by this evil woman. The hatred they felt for each other oozed out of them like a dark cloud. “Do not fucking touch me.”

“Now, now.” Sister Imperator started. “We wouldn’t want anything to stress our bearer of our next heir, would we?”

“Then let him go!” Alexis’s face was twisted in to a snarl. She felt rabid. The strongest desire in her heart was to make Sister Imperator hurt like she herself hurt. This bitch ruined her perfect life.

As she said this, Ben made a move as if to free himself again and come to her. His mask was askew and she could only see one of those beautiful eyes looking at her. The yearning to comfort her was apparent. His movement, however, used the last bit of patience that the men holding him had. The one with the nightstick struck him across the back forcefully with it, knocking Ben down.

“No!” Alexis screamed as she tried to run to him. Sister Imperator held her arms. She was surprisingly strong for a woman her age. Alexis struggled and finally got one arm free. She turned to Sister Imperator and slapped her with all her might. Sister staggered backwards, looking absolutely appalled. Alexis used this moment to get to Ben, who was now on all fours trying to collect himself. The room was heavy with a stunned silence.

“Ben?” Alexis asked quietly, kneeling by his side. She removed his mask when he looked up at her. The men in the suits didn’t seem to know what to do. Sister Imperator was out of Alexis’s view, and Alexis did not care at all what she would say. “Ben, what’s going on?”

Instead of answering, Ben grabbed her and kissed her firmly for as long as he could. The men in suits yanked him to his feet and out of her grasp. Sister Imperator once again had her arms. Before Alexis could once again beg for him to be able to stay, he was taken out of the front door, this time with no struggle.

“He has betrayed his vows as a Nameless Ghoul. He is no longer fit to serve The Cardinal.” Sister Imperator’s cold voice made Alexis feel sick. The clack of high heels echoed through the room as two Sisters of Sin came in. They were the two that were in the hidden room behind the walls. Sister Imperator pulled Alexis to her feet. “You have not been resting as instructed by The Clergy’s finest doctors. These Sisters will see to it that you are well cared for.”

“No.” Alexis said firmly, clutching the platinum mask left in her hands. “All of you get out.”

“I’m afraid that that is not an option.” Sister Imperator’s voice was icy. “You are part of this Clergy whether any of us like it or not and you will obey the instruction given to you. The Cardinal will return tonight and he will take over the duties of these Sisters while he is here.”

Alexis couldn’t speak. Defeat washed over her, numbing her. She didn’t hear anything else that Sister Imperator said before leaving. She was hardly aware of the Sister of Sin directing her back in to her room to lay down. Realizing that all this time her free will had been an illusion sent her in to a catatonic state. She was trapped... and alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on February 11th, 2018.


	31. The Committal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cardinal has no choice but to follow Sister Imperator's wishes and watch over his wife, who wants nothing to do with him. She keeps telling herself that, anyway.

Around eleven that night, Alexis heard her front door open and quiet voices having a short discussion. A familiar pattern of footsteps trudged up the stairs and she dreaded the moment her Cardinal would come in. The Sister of Sin sitting in her room (more like guarding it, Alexis thought) rose and stood at attention, hands behind her back. The door creaked open.

“You are dismissed.” As much as Alexis hated to admit it, she had missed the voice of her soulmate. The Sister nodded and removed herself from the room. High heels clacked down the hall and off in to the depths of the house. Alexis closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut the world out. The bed sank down next to her and her nostrils filled with the scent of her Cardinal. This smell always brought her heart back to memories of their courting days, when things were new and thrilling. This time, the scent reminded her of their last meeting and the results that came from it.

“They took him.” Her internal vow of silence towards her husband was broken, just like that. Alexis couldn’t help herself; the overwhelming hurt and loss of the past couple of days needed somewhere to go. Although he had betrayed her trust, her husband was still all she had. Cardinal Copia was still her best friend; her beloved confidant.

“I know.” His voice was devoid of emotion.

“Why?” Alexis opened her eyes and looked up at her husband. His face was as blank as his voice, but his body language showed her all that she needed to know. Pain had engulfed him as well. It showed in the slump of his shoulders, the hands hanging limply over each knee as he rested his arms on his legs.

“I think you may know why.” The Cardinal and Alexis made eye contact for a brief moment, but it was too painful to hold. Alexis’s hand slowly moved towards The Cardinal’s hand where it came to a stiff rest. He looked down at it and tried to smile, but it was as though the muscles in his face had forgotten how to work. Instead, he placed his other hand on hers and held on.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive you. I don’t know when, or even if I will be,” Alexis said. Her Cardinal was looking at the floor as he nodded.

“I understand.”

“But, right now I need you.” Alexis lifted the covers next to her, face burning red. She felt so weak for caving in to the desire for his touch. She felt so moronic for wanting to have the comfort of his arms when she knew how little she could trust him.

The Cardinal stared pensively for a moment before sliding in to their bed. Their bodies were rigid for a while, but eventually the memory of their perfectly happy companionship nudged them in to the illusion of comfort. In silence, they held on to each other until they fell asleep.

-

When Alexis woke in the morning her first view was of the love of her life watching her sleep. He did smile when she opened her eyes, but the smile was weak and held only sadness. It took Alexis one groggy moment to remember why he may be feeling sad. Her pain came back when it clicked.

“Good morning, my love,” The Cardinal whispered. “Is it okay to take a moment to talk? If you would rather have me leave I will do as you wish.”

Alexis couldn’t answer for a moment. Her anger was only pain now. There was no fire or hostility left in her heart; only a feeling so heavy that she felt she would sink right through the bed onto the floor.

“Okay,” was all she could muster.

“Thank you, my love.” The pet name stung. “I couldn’t sleep for long for fear of losing time spent with you. I do not know how often you will allow it anymore. Watching you sleep so peacefully next to me has almost fooled me in to believing that nothing is wrong.”

She was listening, yearning to kiss her husband but refusing. She was only barely able to restrain herself. The black paint that was usually on his top lip tasted like candy fruit of some kind; maybe strawberries? After sleeping, the paint left on the night before was faint and mostly rubbed off. But, good lord, the memory of this flavor made it so difficult not to taste him. She had to remind herself to remain firm; to make it clear to him that he has hurt her beyond words. Her pregnancy hormones weren’t helping; they were making her want to feel him in every possible way. Yet, these beings wriggling inside of her stomach were there because of lies. 

“I don’t know either.” Alexis was chewing on her lower lip, a bad habit for when she was uncomfortable. 

“What I am trying to get at, my love, is that there is nothing more that I fear in this world than losing you.” The Cardinal’s eyes were suddenly filling with tears that he did not bother trying to blink away. “What I’ve done I cannot undo. I regret this in every moment. If you will only dig deep, deep down and search for that piece of you that understand this you would see that I am only a man. Mistakes, even of such magnitude as this, are often made. Eventually, I do hope that you will be able to forgive me. You are my world, Alexis. My evil queen, my love, my everything.”

Battling emotions swirled through Alexis’s mind making her head hurt. His slightly downturned lips looked so enticing. Seeing her Cardinal in so much pain made her want to kiss his tears away, however, she was also in incredible pain. She had half a heart to move out and go live with her family in Colorado. The other half wanted to work through this with her soulmate. That was what their marriage vows were about, were they not? They held a sacred bond before the Olde One himself. Their love was true and should be invincible. They were meant to conquer everything, side by side. Alexis made a decision.

“It will take time. I will try for you, my Cardinal.” Alexis tentatively reached out and ran her fingers gently through his messy hair. The Cardinal smiled. It was a good smile that one. It was like a step in the right direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The very last two sentences are a direct quote from The Outsider by Stephen King (p343).
> 
> This chapter takes place on February 12th, 2018.
> 
>  
> 
> It has been a long while since there's been an update. I started writing this fic when I needed an escape; a world where I could have my dream life. Since then, my life has actually become pretty damned good and I haven't felt the need to escape.
> 
> The story has also completely taken on a mind of its own. It has not gone at all where I intended it to; it's been writing itself essentially. I don't necessarily like where it's going, so lately this story has felt like homework.
> 
> I won't abandon it. I plan to finish it. There are quite a few plot lines to wrap up and I don't want to rush through those and make them crappy just because I'm not really in to my own story anymore. That being said, it may be a while between each chapter so that I can ensure the same quality (whatever level that may be) for the remainder of the story.
> 
> I can't tell you all how much I appreciate you sticking with this story to this point. If you don't continue, that's understandable and completely okay. I've enjoyed feedback thus far and hope that this story has been fun to read for everyone <3


	32. The Monotony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The nightmares continue while Alexis's existence as a human is leaden monotony.

Bitterness was like a black monster that could suck the life out of any situation. Every day that it was fed with hate, it grew stronger. Alexis felt an insurmountable level of hatred towards the Sisters of Sin who watched her every move. Hawk-like eyes stuck to every slight movement. The only privacy she was allowed was when she hobbled to the bathroom every twenty minutes. The twins were developing at an inexplicable rate, causing Alexis to blow up like a balloon. As they grew, so did the darkness. Her constant discomfort and irritation with the Sisters brought more and more nightmares upon her.

These nightmares rarely varied. There was always a large valley full of pestilence and death. Demons ran amok the valley, causing mayhem wherever they pleased. The giant demon with a gaping maw was always at the center; its mouth leading right in to a fiery pit of Hell. In most of these dreams, Alexis would be chased by a demon until she found her Cardinal in his black cassock. Every time that this would happen, his back would be turned and he would be just barely out of reach before Alexis was overcome by the demon. She could physically feel her fingers brush the material as she was yanked backwards.

Tonight, the demon that ordinarily liked to chase her used a different approach. It cornered her for conversation. This demon slowly changed its appearance to the smoky black entity that appeared to her during her waking hours. In her dreams it usually looked like a grey goblin, its eyes ablaze with a burning light that matched the maw of the colossal demon in the valley. Now its eyes were hollow, tunnels leading through the being; just as she had seen in her hallway and above her in her bed countless times. Its voice once again sounded like scraping metal.

“The time is close,” it said. The words were hard to make out over the scapes of murmur and noisy walls of sound. Although Alexis was not pregnant in her dreams, the demon reached out and grabbed her lower abdomen. “They will bring this” it gestured towards the valley, “upon us all.” Its fingers burned where they made contact, bringing pain forward in a fiery pulse.

The Cardinal was suddenly next to her, smiling at the demon as he placed his hand on her womb as well. A rat on his shoulder crawled over to Alexis’s neck, sending a chill down her spine. Its little paws tickled. This sensation mixed with the disgust she felt at the demon touching her... her body did not know how to react. She begged herself to wake up. The Cardinal kissed her cheek, which only furthered her confused tingling. She was absolutely petrified.

“We’ve done it, my love.” His voice joined the rat’s paws in tickling her neck. “They will come soon.”

Alexis woke up in a cold sweat with her twins moving restlessly inside of her. Not for the first time, she felt afraid of her own future children.

-

These nightmares were kept a secret from her husband. Alexis spent a lot of time reading books on lucid dreaming in the hope that she could begin to have some autonomy in these nightmares. However, in this household nothing was ever a secret anymore. The Sisters of Sin had to fetch her books for her since she was bound to her bed at The Clergy’s demand. These nasty wretches were apt to gossip amongst themselves until they found the worst way to reveal their observations to The Clergy and The Cardinal.

Alexis’s suspicions of these vapid backbiters proved to be true, stirring no feelings of surprise. Her Cardinal had come home to a strategically placed pile of books Alexis had pored through; the Sister claimed she had simply forgotten to put them away after setting them down in a moment of distraction.

“The dreams continue, it would seem.” The Cardinal was sitting next to Alexis on the bed. Their relationship was resuming a small sense of normality but was still tense. She felt often that The Cardinal had become her owner rather than her partner. “Why did you not tell me of this?”

“Can I really tell you anything anymore?” Alexis didn’t pour venom in to these words, as much as she wanted to. They came out softly, wary. The Cardinal nodded, looking at the ground. He was in his new white suit and had not taken off his dapper fedora yet. The brim covered the top half of his face while his head was tilted downwards. All Alexis could see was the tip of his nose that she used to love kissing, and his mustache that sometimes tickled her face when doing so. Looking at her handsome husband made her feel heartsick. Although he was right there with her, she missed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been months since posting an update, and I am so sorry for the pause! Life has been crazy. I'm keeping my promise in not abandoning this story; it will continue for a little while longer and eventually come to an end.
> 
> The story is writing itself and I am not 100% happy with the characters' decisions and changes, but they have a mind of their own and this is being written as it has to. I hope you all still enjoy it and that you stick around until the inevitable end!
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter takes place on February 20th, 2018.


	33. The Prognosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A difficult day for Alexis becomes more stressful when she is given some new information about her little heirs.

Satanism was intended to be about free will and satisfying the ego’s desires. It was meant to encourage one’s pride, self-respect, and self-realization. Although The Clergy was all about theistic Satanism, they had previously encouraged Alexis to follow the morals of LaVeyan Satanism as well; which was her choice long before meeting Papa Emeritus II and Cardinal Copia. She used to enjoy her freedom, her ability to do as she pleased so long as it harmed no one. This brought her peace in her younger days. Now, however, Alexis questioned how in the world she went from free and happy to becoming a prisoner in her bedroom, controlled by The Clergy and the one person she trusted to support her.

In her bed all day every day, Alexis had nothing but time in her head. Sure, she had books, TV, her laptop, videogames; but those all held her interest very little these days. Depression sunk in weeks ago, exacerbated by her nightmares and constant hauntings. The only comfort she had anymore was escaping in to the depths of her own thoughts. The idea of once again breathing fresh air from actually being outside rather than just through a window filled her with longing.

During the days, Sisters of Sin sat in her room in stony silence, only speaking or even moving to get her regularly scheduled meals and books. It was eerie how they were able to sit there for their entire shift just watching Alexis. Their eyes rarely moved from her. It was like they were robots, controlled by an external source. This unnerving behavior no longer bothered Alexis. She had become accustomed to it.

Waiting for the night to fall, when everything was bearable, her husband would come home and spend time with her. Some days he was unable to come home as he was busy with music videos, press release details, and planning for the future of Ghost. For the most part, though, he did his best to stay with her and let her cry out her frustrations on his shoulder. The Cardinal often expressed his own frustrations, feeling like a marionette himself. He did not want the love of his life to be kept prisoner. He did not want to act like he was a captor, a sire of Stockholm syndrome.

Occasionally a doctor would come check on Alexis, insisting that she could not leave bed other than to use the restroom. He saw her twins as too delicate and precious; their lives worth more than hers. Alexis was sure that this was an order from the top of The Clergy, not his professional opinion. His job was most likely on the line, if not his very life. Today was one of the days that the doctor came in to check on the precious little heirs.

“Well, well. Let’s see how the little ones are doing today, shall we?” The doctor had kept an ultrasound machine in her room for the last month. He had grown tired of transporting it back and forth; and now it was used more than ever. He seemed to be coming more and more often to check on the twins.

“Mmm.” Alexis barely cared enough to acknowledge his presence. She felt like a tool; simply a host for these evil creatures to come in to the world. At the same time, though, she did feel an overwhelming amount of love for them. They were to be her little mini-me children, after all. Although they scared her, she was excited deep down to see her love’s features mixed with hers on these little dark cherubs. The Cardinal had trouble suppressing his excitement when she would bring them up. He only suppressed it because he never knew if she would share the feeling or fly in to a rage again about his betrayal; both of which had happened unpredictably.

The doctor squeezed a huge amount of cold lubricating gel on her stomach and began using the machine. The screen was tilted at an angle that Alexis could not see; not that she cared in her depressive state today. All seemed well until the smooth motions of the machine’s wand jerked to a halt. The doctor stared without moving.

“What is it?” Alexis started to sit up; quite a struggle now that she was so large.

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.” The doctor hastily put the wand away and started to wipe her protruding stomach clean. “It’s the oddest thing, though. They seem to be fully developed and ready to come meet us.”

“What? It’s only been four months. They can’t be ready yet.” Alexis knew they were growing incredibly quickly, but this was absurd.

“It is strange, yes. I can hardly believe it, myself.” The doctor now had his hands on his knees, watching Alexis through his plague doctor mask. The Sister of Sin in the corner of the room was watching them closely. “You may feel them drop in the next day or two. They are coming whether we are prepared or not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second sentence is a description taken from Wikipedia; Satanism; LaVeyan Satanism and the Church of Satan.
> 
> This chapter takes place on March 18th, 2018..


	34. The Labor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time, the twins are coming.  
> tsrow eht rof eraperp

The doctor was right. The twins were indeed ready to be unleashed upon the world, beginning their reign of terror. They dropped in her belly, indicating that they were head first and eager. It was only a matter of days, or even hours, before Alexis would begin her unexpectedly quick journey of excruciating pain. Despite The Clergy’s demands for his time, The Cardinal spent as much of it at home as he possibly could. Although Alexis appreciated the effort, she felt uncomfortable from his constant hovering. She had never seen him so nervous. He would pace in their bedroom wringing his hands while asking how she felt.

“Cardi.” Alexis’s voice stopped his pacing. “Would you knock it off? I’ll let you know when something is up. I’m fine.” The sudden, stabbing cramp in her uterus begged to differ. It felt as though a knife was digging around her abdomen.

“I apologize, my dearest.” The Cardinal dropped his hands. He swooped in on his wife, embracing her like a precious and fragile treasure. She squirmed; it was too warm in their room as it was. The Cardinal let up a bit and kissed her temple, much like he used to. Their fight seemed like the distant past despite it being rather recent. The hormone fluctuations and need of someone close to her made Alexis feel much more appreciative of her husband, but there was still a deep distance between them. His lies stained her mind like red wine on a white carpet. Most times the heartbreak felt like a fresh wound, other times she was able to remember why she gave up her entire life to be The Cardinal’s wife.

“I appreciate the concern, but you’re making me anxious. Knock it off.” She sounded a bit sharper than intended but did not care in that moment. Her lower back was killing her almost as much as the cramps. Cardinal Copia’s shoulders slumped and he broke eye contact, holding in a sigh.

“I only wish for your comfort. Becoming a burden was never my intent.” His arms slowly slipped away and he withdrew. He turned to rise from their bed, his face drawn.

“No, no, I didn’t mean to...” Alexis didn’t really know what she didn’t mean to do. Make him feel bad? Make him feel embarrassed? A paltry smile answered her unfinished sentence along with another small kiss.

“Shh, shh, shh, sh. It is okay.” His hand seemed to know that her lower back needed attention. He rubbed it in a way that helped as much as possible. Alexis sighed and leaned her head back. His fingers kneaded the exact spots that needed it; his massage the savior she had been dying for. The only thing that could have improved it would be if his hand were cold. The room was just so damned hot.

“Can you... If it’s not too much trouble... Can you grab me a cold rag?”

“Absolutely. Anything you wish.” The Cardinal left the room to oblige. While he was gone, Alexis realized that this was the first time that she was alone for weeks. Not that it made much difference, she had nothing to accomplish in this moment of secrecy. However, it was nice just to exist as herself without any sort of scrutiny or surveillance. She basked in this moment, once again yearning for her freedom. She wished full heartedly for her demon spawn to leave her womb so that she might obtain some semblance of herself again.

Alexis missed the sunlight, the rain, and even the heavy snows that were just like the ones back home in Colorado that had annoyed her so much while she was growing up. The stale air of her bedroom (prison) was all that she had known for over a month. She was a bird in a gilded cage.

Too soon, her Cardinal returned. The Cardinal had brought a large metal bowl full of iced water along with the requested washrag. He dipped the rag in to the water before draping it across his wife’s forehead. Feeling the sudden cold rush through her veins, Alexis closed her eyes. With the annoying overheating slipping away, she could focus on her body and the messages it was sending her. The messages were not appearing to be good. She was not having only the intermittent cramps as expected; there was a different type of pain coursing through her. It felt venomous.

“I think something actually is wrong,” she mumbled. The Cardinal leaned in closer to her. He said nothing, only waited for her to continue, a growing look of concern furrowing his brow. “It hurts.”

“What hurts, my love?” His voice held urgency. He brushed the sweaty hair from her cheek.

“Everything.”

-  
The Clergy’s hospital was drab and old fashioned. The walls were empty. There were no loud paintings or historical plaques telling heroic tales of previous practitioners such as are found in hospitals for the general public. There was no sense of organized chaos here; no busybodies walking briskly from room to room. There was only a solemn, stuffy ambience in this sparsely filled private hospital.

A few snide Sisters employed as nurses wheeled Alexis on a squeaky gurney to a room lit by what seemed to be the only bright lights in the building. Her entire body was mildly convulsing, but she was not granted the pleasure of full unconsciousness just yet. The Cardinal had brought her here in tears. He may have been lying to her for years, but that did not by any means indicate that his love for her was false. His worry was beyond measure. He seemed to dance around on tiptoe while she was pushed down the empty corridors. 

Vision came in waves of pain, fading in and out as the drugs from the epidural coursed through her body. Sights of her worried husband came, then suddenly a plague doctor mask would frighten her delusional mind. At one point, even Sister Imperator’s grinning face loomed over her. What bothered her most, though, was that in these dark moments the haunting presence that plagued her was laughing in the depths of blackness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on March 20th, 2018.


	35. The Naming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're here...

Drifting in and out of consciousness was confusing, terrifying, and painful. During waking moments there was excruciating pain everywhere that the epidural was not numbing. In these moments she could not open her eyes; her lids were too heavy. She was faintly aware of an oxygen mask on her face that did not block out the coppery smell of blood. Voices in panic filled the room, yet Alexis could only hear garbled gibberish. Occasionally she could feel tugging and pressure at her lower half, but would then lose consciousness again.

The moments of unconsciousness were insufferable. She knew immediately that she must be in Hell. The images shown to her were of every moment of regret in her life. Every time that she had ever felt guilt was replaying in her mind; embarrassing childhood faux pas, humiliating moments in puberty, regrets in adulthood.

Currently the image of Ben being dragged out of her house tormented her. The helplessness and defeat in his eyes the moment before he kissed her for the last time absolutely broke her heart. It hurt worse not knowing where he was taken or if he was even still alive. She had tried to find out, of course, but even her Cardinal could not tell her for he was not sure himself.

In Hell, images were added to memories to evoke even more guilt and pain. There were flashes of Ben being tortured in a dark cell in the basement of The Clergy’s headquarters. The sound of a whip tearing flesh ripped through Alexis’s heart. Screams followed. Sorrow and regret filled every single bit of her soul, leaving her cold and empty. Once she could take no more she would wake again, being tortured in another sense.

-

Waking this time after seeing visions of her Cardinal becoming purely evil and uncaring, Alexis was finally able to fully open her eyes. She felt dizzy and fuzzy around the edges. Her eyes took a lot of extra time to focus on her Cardinal, who was nearby and seemed to have his head bowed. He was only a black cloud for a moment, like the dark entity in her life, until he came in to focus. Once he saw her open eyes he leaned forward from his chair and kissed her forehead, tears dripping in to her hair.

“I feared you would never wake.” These words came in hot breath across her skin. The Cardinal let out a small sob and wrapped his arms around her. Alexis couldn’t move her body very easily, but she managed to put one arm around his back. His oceanic musk helped her foggy brain start to make sense of the world.

“Are they okay?” She whispered, straining to even make sound. The twins were not in the same room as Alexis and The Cardinal, and Alexis began to feel panic. She needed to know that her children were okay. She needed to see their healthy little faces giving tiny newborn cries. This panic pushed away the remaining numbness of the drugs she had been fed for god knows how long now. She was nowhere near sharp focus, but she was certainly more clear-headed.

Still hugging her tightly and resting his face against hers, The Cardinal assured her that the twins were indeed healthy and that they were the most beautiful beings that he’d ever seen. They were in the nursery waiting until Alexis regained consciousness. The Cardinal answered her questions about what happened, kissing her face all over between answers. A maternal hemorrhage had happened while Alexis went in to labor at home. She had lost a little over a third of her blood during the birth of her twins; most of the doctors did not think that she would pull through. The Cardinal did not leave her side for a moment once the emergency C-section was over. The doctors had had to make a decision of whether to save the twins or the mother. Just as they were about to save the twins at The Clergy’s command, Alexis showed stronger signs of vitality. The Cardinal insisted that they make absolutely certain that his wife survived. Cardinal Copia had had some time with the twins at his request to bring them in to the room that Alexis was in. He had hoped that their presence would strengthen Alexis’s will to come back from the brink of death.

“I need to see them, to hold them.”

“I know, my love. Let me go speak with the Sisters and have them bring the twins in.” He looked at his wife, a smile peeking out from the curtain of concern. “They need names, as well, my dearest. That decision has been saved for you.” A soft kiss and The Cardinal was gone.

The world still felt unreal and hazy, but there was enough sense in her mind to know that she may not have her own children for long. Sister Imperator alluded to taking them away from her to force them in to The Clergy as soon as possible. They were to train and follow the footsteps of all Emeritus men that had led The Clergy. There was nothing that she could do about it, but she would damned well try her hardest to keep her children with her and their father.

-

Cardinal Copia was right, the twins were beyond beautiful. Alexis had no words for how perfect they were. She had kept the gender a secret even from herself, as she wanted to be surprised once they were born. They were a perfect pair; one sweet little girl and one sweet little boy. Her son had one perfect white iris in his left eye; just like either father that he may have come from. Alexis suspected that he was Dante’s son; his brow furrowed in just the same way as her favorite grumpy old man. The little girl had the most striking green eyes already, and Alexis wondered if they would match the beautiful right eye of her husband.

As her daughter looked in to her face, calm with quiet observation, a name popped in to Alexis’s head: Mara. Mara was a demon in Eastern mythology; a symbol of death, rebirth, and desire. How fitting for a supposed bringer of the apocalypse. As Alexis held her loves in her arms, she could not see how these innocent and sweet little things would ever cause any sort of evil. Her son’s white eye shone like a stark beacon from his pure face. As she examined this face, his name popped in to her mind as well: Samael. Her son would be named after the archangel of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on March 20th, 2018.


	36. The Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The little Named Ghouls get to venture out with the new parents; one of which is finally regaining some autonomy.

Mara and Samael were the calmest babes Alexis had ever known. She had yet to hear them cry even once during the week that she was being monitored in The Clergy’s hospital. They were so very precious to her, even knowing that their coming meant that the world was going to change forever. After all of the inherent bonding that naturally occurs after birth, Alexis wondered how she ever could have thought of them as unpleasant while they were in her womb. It was almost laughable thinking that they scared her at one point. They looked so small wrapped up in the thick, black blankets back home.

Cardinal Copia was proving to be an amazing father. He was always eager to tend to the twins when they cried, allowing Alexis to rest and regain her natural energy. Now that it had been a little over a week, she had finally become close to herself again and was no longer affected by the near-death experience during her labor. She was mobile again and at long last could leave her prison. The Cardinal was excited to show off the little antichrists to anyone that he could. He and Alexis started taking them on walks, each pushing them along in their own antique baby carriage buggies. It felt a little cheesy, but Alexis was delighted that her Cardinal was spoiling his offspring so much with affection and stylish belongings.

The two took a stroll to Cardinal Copia’s Museum of Mortality to show off the twins to the Ghouls/Ghoulettes and any random Clergy visitors. Spring was finally peeking its head out of winter weather and the day was a pleasant temperature; not too warm and not too chilly. Blossoms were forming on floral trees, vines were regaining their green hues, and the sky was as clear as could be. Alexis breathed in deeply through her nose, eyes closed for a moment. She had missed being outside with all of her heart while she was locked away in her room. Today was the most perfect day that she could imagine for her first day of freedom. While the freedom was largely an illusion, it was still liberating being outdoors.

Alexis’s mind was calm for the first time in months. She was feeling much less hostile towards her husband; he was doing everything in his power to beg forgiveness and cater to her every whim. He was able to convince Sister Imperator to remove her constant watch through the Sisters of Sin now that the twins were here and healthy as could be. This was wonderful news that created much relief for the couple; yet Alexis was still struggling a bit with the trust. Not enough time had passed and not enough had been built back up yet, but they were trying.

Today the conversation was light and full of genuine smiles. The Cardinal was also excited to be outside. His debut Ghost album was finished, as was his first music video. All that was left was to spend time with his family and wait for the release of these bits of media.

The Cardinal was not particularly young; however, he was always youthful. Today his inner child was more apparent than ever; gesticulating with enthusiasm at every small animal exploring the neighborhood. He was teaching his children all about the world around them and was very pleased to do so. Alexis’s heart felt like it healed a tiny little bit more with each of these moments. 

At the museum, the Ghouls and Ghoulettes were ecstatic to meet the babies. Alexis hoped that their masks would not frighten the little ones, but the twins seemed to enjoy them. Their tiny faces were filled with smiles, which was very early for them to learn how to do. They were proving each day to be more and more exceptional. Samael and Mara already had an advanced alertness and understanding of their surroundings at only nine days old. They were growing just as quickly outside of the womb as they were inside of it. It was very unnatural, but the Clergy doctors insisted that it was normal so long as they were healthy.

-  
Alexis had forgotten how much she loved the grotesqueness of the museum. While The Cardinal wandered around proudly holding his children, Alexis led herself a quiet tour. The gentle creaks of the wooden floors and the muted conversation of her Cardinal in another room triggered an odd sense of déjà vu. She halted at the section with the plague victims, trying her hardest to remember when she had experienced this moment before. She had been in this section of the museum on her own plenty of times before, regularly during times where The Cardinal was talking in the other room. This moment felt a little different, yet still made the part of her brain affected by déjà vu itch. Alexis believed that if the moment had not been experienced on an exact level before, déjà vu was simply a little nudge from the universe to remain on the current path as it’s the intended one to follow. With this thought, Alexis smiled and listened to the rise and fall of her Cardinal’s voice as he gushed about his family.

She looked around the familiar room, examining the wax figures in their cases more closely. Their faces covered in boils, their eyes full of viscous goop, and their distorted expressions of pain abruptly and unexpectedly filled her with fear. She knew now that her children were here there was not much time left before the plague could absorb the entire world; bringing Hell unto Earth. She knew in her heart that her nighttime visions were truth, despite her hopes that they were only manifestations of her stresses and inner turmoils. After the peaceful moment she had felt prior to these thoughts this was a cold reminder that her freedom and happiness were lies fed to her by The Clergy, including the seemingly adoring husband in the foyer.

As she stood tracing her finger along the plaque describing the history of the plague, a Ghoul approached her and cleared its throat. Alexis turned and waited for them to speak. She saw that the Ghoul was holding a plain brown cardboard box, sealed tightly with packing tape.

“I was asked to present this to you, Mrs. Copia.” They pressed the box in to her arms. “Please do not open it until you are at home.”

Before Alexis could say anything, the Ghoul turned on their heel and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on March 29th, 2018.


End file.
